PG&E: Shares fall amid North Bay wildfire fears
Shares of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. fell 5.5% on Monday in the wake of the Glass Fire in Wine Country, though the cause of the wildfire hasn’t been determined.
PG&E shares were down to $9.45 at market’s close.
The company said Monday that 11,000 Napa County homes and businesses were experiencing power outages due to the fire. Most of those outages came as a result of requests from Cal Fire to increase safety as firefighters battle to save people and homes, while 288 were public safety power shutoffs under PG&E’s system of preemptive power cuts in areas of high fire risk. PG&E said an additional 17,000 customers had lost power in Sonoma County.
Others lost power due to the 15,000acre Zogg Fire in Shasta County, which began Sunday and quickly grew, causing evacuations.
PG&E had also planned 65,000 preemptive shutoffs Sunday and Monday to prevent lines from sparking fires across its huge service territory. Along with those affected by fires, a total of 87,500 PG&E customers were without
power as of Monday afternoon.
Tamar Sarkissian, a PG&E spokeswoman, said it was possible that PG&E equipment was damaged by the fires after they started. She said there was no indication that the company’s equipment was involved in the ignition of the Glass or Shady fires, which Cal Fire is now treating as a single fire incident. PG&E did not file an incident report with its regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission; such a report could have suggested that the utility suspected a possible issue.
PG&E started inspecting nearly 3,915 miles of equipment Monday and is restoring power where it can.
Sarkissian said the company does not comment on “rumor or speculation” related to its share price.
Cal Fire determines the cause of fires through investigations that can take months.
PG&E equipment sparked the Camp Fire in 2018, California’s deadliest wildfire, with 86 deaths, and also some of the 2017 wildfires in Wine Country.
87,500 PG&E customers were without power as of Monday afternoon.