Pacific Gas & Electric wants to bury many of its power lines in areas threatened by wildfires. But California regulators are balking at their plan in part because of its impact on rates. PG&E customers already pay some of the highest rates in the country. It is expensive to bury power lines and takes a long time to complete.
Pacific Gas and Electric CEO Patti Poppe looks down while being interviewed during a tour of PG&E workers burying power lines in Vacaville, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. PG&E wants to bury many of its power lines in areas threatened by wildfires. Construction manager Jim Stack speaks to reporters during a tour of Pacific Gas and Electric workers burying power lines in Vacaville, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023.
“We’re not going to live with 35% risk,” said PG&E CEO Patti Poppe, who was rounding down in her assessment. “Who wants to get on a plane that has a 35% chance of crashing?”AP Exclusive: 911 calls from deadly Lahaina wildfire reveal terror and panic in the rush to escapeafter it faced more than $30 billion in damages for wildfires started by its equipment, is trying to convince regulators that its burying plan is better. The company filed its plan with state regulators last year.
Most of the nation’s power lines are above ground because its cheaper to do it that way. But more utilities have been burying power lines in response to bigger and more destructive natural disasters. In Florida, where hurricanes are more of a threat than wildfires, about 45% of Florida Power and Light’s distribution system is underground, according to the company’s website.
Poppe donned a hard hat and protective glasses to watch workers pour a concrete mixture into a freshly dug trench along a rural, two-lane road. Behind them, charred trees stood sentry on brown hills, evidence of thethat destroyed nearly 1,500 structures and killed six people. That fire was started by lightening, not PG&E’s power lines, but it is a reminder of the lasting damage that wildfires can cause.
The Public Utilities Commission is considering two other plans that would include both burying power lines and using protective coverings. The plans reduce the number of power lines that PG&E could bury by at least half. One plan would raise rates by just over 12% and the other would raise rates by about 10%.
At the start of 2018, both PG&E and Southern California Edison had only 5% of their high-threat fire districts protected with either underground lines or protective covers, according to the California Public Advocates Office, the state agency that represents customers before the Public Utilities Commission.
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