Californian energy utility Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, amid pressure from potentially staggering liabilities related to wildfires in 2017 and 2018 (estimated at more than US$30bn). Once the company files for this chapter, lawsuits will be paused and creditors will no longer be able to call loans or demand interest payments, which leaves room for the reorganisation of the company and allow a more effective settlement of disputes.
PG&E hopes to be able to exit bankruptcy in as little as two years, but this may take longer than expected, since California rules expose utilities to liabilities from wildfires as long as their equipment is involved; any new fire related to existing infrastructure that might occur during the bankruptcy period would aggravate the company's liabilities. PG&E neither does envision negative impact on its electricity and gas customers nor a stop of its activities.
PG&E provides electricity and natural gas services to approximately 16 million people in northern and central California. It is regulated by the state's regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). It has approximately 5.4 million electric customer accounts and 4.3 million natural gas customer accounts. It operates 106,681 circuit miles (171,976 km) of electric distribution lines and 18,466 circuit miles (29,718 km) of interconnected transmission lines. As for the gas network, it owns 42,141 miles (67,819 km) of natural gas distribution pipelines and 6,438 miles (10,360 km) of transmission pipelines.