PG&E Files 10-Year Plan to Underground 5,000 Miles of Power Lines in California

PG&E filed a 10-year Electrical Undergrounding Plan with the California Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, to improve grid safety and reliability in high-wildfire-risk areas across northern and central California. Separately, PG&E Corp. said in early September that it plans to defer about $2 billion of investments next year as part of a strategic review of its businesses, a move that comes after it said a proposed revamp of California’s wildfire response didn’t do enough to protect the company and its peers from the cost of such disasters. Related: Southern California Utilities Prep Shutoffs as Fire Risk Surges The plan would place about 5,000 miles of electricity distribution lines underground from 2028 to 2037 — focusing on areas where undergrounding will likely reduce wildfire risks the most, the utility said Work would span more than 30 counties PG&E expects $117 billion in long-term benefits through wildfire prevention and reduced outages, avoiding roughly $6 billion in vegetation management, operations and maintenance costs In September, PG&E said it would defer about $2 billion in spending for next year and launched a strategic review Earlier, an amended state Senate bill raised concerns around wildfire liability costs California’s utilities have faced growing wildfire-related liabilities PG&E, the parent of Pacific Gas and Electric Co, emerged from bankruptcy in 2020 after its equipment was linked to several deadly fires (Reporting by Katha Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das) Topics California Was this article valuable? Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article. Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it. Here are more articles you may enjoy.