Climate Changed
Not Even the U.S. Government Can Escape the Fallout of PG&E’s Crisis
- Energy Department helped finance projects with PG&E contracts
- A bankrupt PG&E could seek to cancel or renegotiate contracts
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The fallout from California power giant PG&E Corp.’s looming bankruptcy has been both sudden and widespread: Its electricity suppliers have seen their debt cut to junk. Banks are facing liabilities as buyers of last resort for more than $760 million of bonds the utility issued through California. And the rest of the state’s utilities have tumbled.
Now the U.S. government has become entangled in PG&E’s financial crisis -- brought on by deadly wildfires that tore through California in 2017 and 2018, saddling the company with an estimated $30 billion in liabilities.