What California's new wildfire plan means for PG&E, ratepayers, and fire victims

Before lawmakers left on vacation last week, Governor Gavin Newsom introduced and signed into law a new plan for California wildfires. The law creates a fund to pay for damages from wildfires — specifically, ones caused by utilities. Last year’s devastating Camp Fire was the most expensive natural disaster of 2018, totaling $16.5 billion in damages. And as we now know from a CalFire investigation, the blaze was caused by a damaged PG&E electrical tower. Companies could dip into the fund to pay victims of future wildfires. If they are found to have acted recklessly, like they failed to maintain a power line, they’ll have to reimburse the fund.