By admin 
California assembly members began their discussions on the efforts by the state’s major utilities to reduce wildfire risks and the liability those companies face when their equipment starts a blaze. Tuesday’s meeting was the first in what is anticipated to be a series of hearings.
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The meetings follow contentious negotiations over the summer pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to change how the state responds to utility-caused wildfires. Critics of the governor’s pitch called it a bailout. A proposed legislative deal ultimately failed.
Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine, said the hearings were timely in light of recent winds that swept across California and caused Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to shut off power to more than 150,000 combined customers to reduce the risk of major fires.
“Our hots are getting hotter, our dries are getting drier, and our fire weather is getting harder and harder to manage,” said Petrie-Norris, who chairs the Assembly Utilities And Energy Committee, which hosted the hearing. It was attended by only one other member: Assemblymember John Harabedian, D-Sierra Madre.
Forest Kaser, who leads the state’s Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, told the assembly members it was not economically possible to drive the number of wildfires in the state to zero. The agency was established in 2021 to make sure electrical utilities work to reduce the risk of wildfires caused by their equipment.
“It is possible to drive catastrophic utility wildfires to zero,” he added. “But utilities can’t do that alone. There is too much risk embedded in the landscape outside utilities’ control.”
Southern California Edison CEO Jill Anderson said the company, which serves about 15 million people is doing its part. It has taken down or trimmed over 2 million trees, covered thousands of miles worth of power lines to prevent short-circuiting and brought another 10 miles underground in recent years, she said.
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Nathaniel Skinner, the deputy director of energy at the Public Advocates Office, said ratepayers are serving as a financial backstop for wildfire work and can no longer afford to do so. The office is a consumer advocate at the California Public Utilities Commission.
Wildfire costs in electric rates were about $500 million in 2019 for PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, three major utilities owned by investors, Skinner said. In 2024, the figure was up to $9 billion.
Those are the single largest component of customer bills.
The hearings come as PG&E announced it was putting off $2 billion in spending following the failed negotiations to reduce the risk it and the other major utilities face following wildfires they cause. The Public Utilities Commission is also supposed to provide the governor with a report by Nov. 1 that will look at the consequences of credit rating downgrades for utility companies.
Anderson urged lawmakers to provide changes that would help utilities, not just bring down their liability, but also costs for customers. Southern California Edison’s equipment was linked to the 2025 Eaton Fire, which killed 19 people in Los Angeles County.
“We hope you will reconvene in a special session so that we can work together on a long-term, a durable and a permanent solution to wildfire liability,” Anderson urged the assembly members.
There was no indication during the hearing that the solution she was seeking was imminent.
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