PG&E Corp., the California utility giant driven into bankruptcy after its equipment caused deadly blazes, expects to take a $1.15 billion loss from the second-largest wildfire in California history that burned for months this summer.
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The company also disclosed in a filing Monday that it received a subpoena from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of California in connection with the blaze. PG&E shares were unchanged at 9:37 a.m. in New York and have declined 7.2% this year.
The impending loss and federal probe are the latest blows for embattled PG&E. The company incurred a $1.09 billion third-quarter loss because of bankruptcy costs, state-mandated contributions to a wildfire-insurance fund, prior fire-season damages and other costs, according to a statement.
Adjusting for those extraordinary costs, profit rose to 24 cents a share from 22 cents a year earlier, according to a statement. The result was 2 cents shy of the average estimate from analysts.
Five county district attorneys are also investigating the company’s role in the Dixie Fire. In addition, a federal judge overseeing the company’s criminal probation is looking into the company’s initial response to the start of the blaze in a canyon nestled in the northern Sierras.
PG&E expects to recover costs of the fire from insurance, customer rates and a fund established by the state, it said in the filing. The company said its loss estimate excludes potential claims from fire-fighting costs from federal, state and local agencies. More than $630 million of costs had been incurred in suppressing the Dixie fire, according to a National Interagency Coordination Center Incident Management Situation report, the company said.
