California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved a settlement agreement between the CPUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which penalizes PG&E $45 million for its involvement in the 2021 Dixie Fire.
The settlement agreement was reached after CPUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division concluded its investigation and issued an Administrative Consent Order, the agency said in a release on Jan. 25.
The Dixie Fire, which started July 13, 2021, burned about 963,309 acres in Shasta as well as Plumas, Lassen, Butte and Tehama counties. The fire ignited after a Douglas fir tree contacted energized power lines owned and operated by PG&E.
Shasta County reaches settlement in Dixie Fire; heads to court over Zogg Fire
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the state agency said that PG&E will pay a $45 million penalty, including:
- $40 million in shareholder funding for capital expenditures to transition from hard copy records to electronic records for distribution patrols and inspections
- $2.5 million in fines to the California General Fund
- $2.5 million in payments to tribes impacted by the Dixie Fire for remediations. PG&E will distribute payments to the Greenville Rancheria and Maidu Summitt Consortium, which is a nonprofit representing a number of Mountain Maidu groups, tribes, nonprofits and grassroots organizations.