What's Ahead for PG&E?

You probably know the broad contours: In January, PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection as it faced billions of dollars of liability for its role in starting devastating wildfires.

And in the midst of this year’s fire season, the utility caused chaos when it shut off power to millions of people in an effort, it said, to prevent more blazes from sparking.

There’s still a lot of complicated maneuvering ahead, though. So I asked my colleague Ivan Penn , who’s been covering it all, to give us this update:

Even after reaching a $13.5 billion settlement with wildfire victims, Pacific Gas & Electric faces a largely uncertain future, as demands to overhaul the utility continue to grow.

PG&E, in bankruptcy after amassing tens of billions of dollars in liability related to wildfires caused by its equipment, must develop a reorganization plan to assuage California officials angered by repeated fatal incidents that have marked the company’s history. PG&E faces substantial penalties and criminal charges related to the most devastating case involving the utility and its equipment — the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who must approve of PG&E’s strategy to emerge from bankruptcy, is expected to take a critical step in moving the utility’s plan forward Friday when he decides whether to approve the settlement agreement with the wildfire victims.

Newsom has warned PG&E that any reorganization plan must show improved safety in its operations, fair treatment of customers and employees, and a commitment to the state’s clean energy goals, or else the state might act to restructure the company. PG&E is under a state-imposed deadline of June 2020 to resolve the bankruptcy case.

“Whatever entity emerges from bankruptcy must be completely transformed,” said Nathan Click, a spokesman for Newsom. “A final deal can’t be financed on the back of customers.”

California mayors throughout PG&E’s service area want to go further. They want a complete change in the structure of the company into a government-run or cooperative utility.

Mayor Sam Liccardo of San Jose announced last week that more than 100 elected officials had signed onto his plan to transform PG&E into a customer-owned utility. Liccardo said his plan had the support of officials who represent 8 million Californians, the majority of PG&E customers.

“I’m proud to stand with our growing coalition of 113 elected leaders — who together represent more than half of Californians served by PG&E — urging the company’s transformation to put the company’s days of underinvestment, mismanagement and negligence far behind us,” Liccardo said.

In response to questions for this report, PG&E reiterated statements by Bill Johnson, the company’s CEO.

“There have been many calls for PG&E to change in recent years,” Johnson said. “PG&E’s leadership team has heard those calls for change, and we realize we need to do even more to be a different company now and in the future.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .