PG&E to place thousands of miles of power lines underground
(Still frame courtesy Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Graphic by Solano NewsNet)
The Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) says it will place thousands of miles of electrical lines underground as part of the company’s overall mission to mitigate the start and spread of wildfires.
The news was announced at a press conference on Wednesday as the utility company deals with the likelihood that its equipment was at fault for an active wildfire that has scorched more than 85,000 acres of land in Butte and Plumas counties.
Equipment owned or maintained by PG&E has been blamed for several deadly and destructive wildfires in recent years, including the Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise in 2018 and the Kincaid Fire in Sonoma County two years ago.
The financial liability of the wildfires blamed by PG&E forced the company into bankruptcy in early 2019. It emerged from bankruptcy with a court- and state-approved restructuring plan in 2020, a plan that included a vast commitment to wildfire mitigation.
The move to place electrical lines underground announced on Wednesday is part of that commitment, officials with PG&E said.
“We want what all of our customers want, a safe and resilient energy system,” Patti Poppe, the chief executive of PG&E, said at the press conference in Chico. “We have taken a stand that catastrophic wildfires shall stop.”
PG&E said it will prioritize utility lines in high wildfire threat areas. Solano NewsNet reached out to a PG&E spokesperson to find out if electrical lines in Solano County were part of its burial plan. The spokesperson has not yet returned a request for additional information, but data reviewed by Solano NewsNet showed power lines in rural Vacaville, Fairfield and Dixon are considered to be within high wildfire threat areas.
The utility said the move will cost between $15 billion and $20 billion overall, or about $1.5 million to $2 million per mile.
Poppe said the cost of the initiative is likely to be passed along to PG&E customers in the form of additional fees on their bills. The utility intends to seek approval from the California Public Utilities Commission for the charges.
“It’s too expensive not to underground,” Poppe affirmed. “Lives are on the line.”
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