PCG PG&E Corporation

By Maria Armental 

Electrical power equipment owned by California's largest utility company appeared to have malfunctioned in an area where the state's deadliest wildfire started last week, according to a PG&E Corp. securities filing.

The cause of the Camp Fire, which has burned through some 117,000 acres in Northern California's Butte County, remains under investigation. At least 42 people have died in the fire and more than 6,500 houses have been destroyed, officials said.

But if the company's equipment is determined to be the cause of the fire, PG&E warned in the filing, it would face potential liabilities beyond its insurance coverage. As a result, the utility said, fire-related liabilities could significantly affect its financial condition.

PG&E, owner of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., said it sent the California Public Utilities Commission an electric incident report on Thursday indicating a power failure on a transmission line in Butte County at 6:15 a.m. Pacific Standard Time that day.

State records indicate the fire started around 6:30 a.m. An evacuation order quickly went out -- first in the town of Pulga, then to nearby areas. President Trump has declared the wildfires a major disaster, opening the door for federal relief funds to potentially flow into affected areas.

PG&E also is facing mounting liabilities from last year's wildfires that left more than 40 people dead and ravaged more than 245,000 acres of land, causing billions of dollars in damages.

California fire investigators have linked PG&E's equipment to 17 of the 2017 Northern California wildfires, the company said in a securities filing on Nov. 5. The other fires remain under investigation, PG&E said.

The San Francisco-based company has suspended dividend payouts and booked a charge of $2.5 billion, reflecting the low end of the estimated range of loss, the company said.

Some analysts have pegged PG&E's potential liability from the 2017 fires at as much as $15 billion.

The California Department of Insurance said in September that insurers had received claims totaling some $10 billion in losses from the Northern California wildfires.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 13, 2018 21:34 ET (02:34 GMT)

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