PG&E debts climbed after wildfire-linked bankruptcy, new court filing shows

PG&E liabilities have topped $68 billion, according to new court and regulatory filings released on Monday, an indication that the company’s debts continued to climb after the utility filed for a bankruptcy linked to a string of Northern California wildfires.

By Feb. 28, PG&E estimated that its liabilities totaled $68.56 billion, according to documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

As of Jan. 31, PG&E’s liabilities totaled $66.89 billion.

That means the company’s liabilities climbed by $1.67 billion during February, the official filings indicate.

Confronted by a forbidding mountain of liabilities and wildfire-related claims, PG&E filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 29, listing — at the time — $51.69 billion in debts and $71.39 billion in assets.

PG&E, which is already a convicted felon for crimes it committed before and after a fatal explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people, is also linked to a series of infernos that torched large sections of Northern California in 2017 and 2018.

The company’s equipment was deemed to be the cause of 17 of the wildfires that roared through the North Bay Wine Country and other regions in October 2017.

PG&E also has been linked to a lethal wildfire that scorched Butte County and essentially destroyed the town of Paradise in November 2018.

Although a cause of the November disaster has yet to be officially announced, PG&E in late February disclosed that it was “probable” state fire investigators would determine the company’s equipment was the ignition point of last year’s blaze in Butte County, also known as the Camp Fire.