PG&E offered $30B to end fire claims, rebrand

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Pacific Gas & Electric’s key lenders on Tuesday offered a $30 billion plan to pull the utility out of bankruptcy and give the company a new name.

The proposal filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court would set aside up to $18 billion of that $30 billion to pay claims on the 2017 and 2018 wildfires caused by Pacific Gas & Electric equipment, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The plan offered by Pacific Gas & Electric’s leading bondholders would compete with an alternative that the newspaper says is being drafted by Pacific Gas & Electric. Normally the company in bankruptcy has first crack at proposing an exit plan, but the bondholders said in a court filing that they filed their plan because Pacific Gas & Electric has “wasted crucial time needlessly.”

The bondholders also want to re-brand Pacific Gas & Electric as Golden State Power Light & Gas Company.

Asked about the bondholders’ plan, the utility said in a statement that it was considering all options.

The new proposal came four days after Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, floated the idea of a $24 billion package to deal with the costs of future wildfires, paid for by ratepayers and shareholders of the utility and the other two big electric utilities in California.

Newsom’s plan does not offer any cash for the utility’s existing liabilities but would revise state law to give utilities more certainty about recovering costs from ratepayers — enough stability that Newsom believes will allow Pacific Gas & Electric to borrow the money it needs to pay existing claims, according to the Bee.

The bondholders include some of the biggest investors on Wall Street, including Elliott Management, Pimco and Apollo Global Management.