No. of Recommendations: 9
PG&E was driven into bankruptcy in 2019 after a series of deadly fires blamed on its equipment. Poppe pointed to measures California has taken since then to cut fire risk. The state has set up a $21 billion wildfire insurance fund to backstop utilities, put shareholder liability caps on utility wildfire claims and required PG&E to carry out fire prevention plans that include hardening its grid against extreme weather.
PG&E went bankrupt with the claims from claims prior to the backstop. Buffett might still be a little unhappy about the prospect of BH Energy going bankrupt because of claims that are not covered by the State's backstop, whereas for Poppe (appointed after PG&E's bankruptcy), that is just water under the bridge.
dtb
