Judge proposes preventing California utility PG&E from paying dividends to shareholders until it invests in fire prevention. PG&E said in a filing that 'it is probable that its equipment will be determined to be an ignition point of the 2018 Camp Fire.”
“To ensure that sufficient financial resources are available for this purpose, PG&E may not issue any dividends until it is in compliance with all applicable vegetation management requirements,” Alsup wrote in a March ruling.
Mike Stone, a senior fellow at The Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance and adjunct professor at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law, characterized unusual sanctions as unusual but not unheard-of. There is already some precedent for these kinds of court orders in bankruptcy — which PG&E is undergoing, having filed for Chapter 11 in January as potential wildfire-related liability costs soared.“The company believes it is probable that its equipment will be determined to be an ignition point of the 2018 Camp Fire,” PG&E said in a February regulatory filing. The devastating Camp Fire caused 86 deaths and $16.5 billion worth of damages.
In PG&E’s case, Alsup is effectively saying that the priorities of safety regulators — and the safety of California residents facing the upcoming fire season — trumps that of the utility’s shareholders.
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