PG&E Agrees to Pay North Bay Cities, Counties Millions in Damages

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In a huge win for taxpayers in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County among others, Pacific Gas and Electric Company has agreed to pay some one billion dollars to settle damage claims stemming from wildfires since 2015.

The settlement, which still has to be approved by a bankruptcy judge, would mean municipalities in the North Bay would receive approximately 415 million dollars of the total, to reimburse the cost of damage to infrastructure, roads and watersheds.

Sonoma County and Santa Rosa would share the money with 7 other North Bay public entities which suffered damages in the fires.

In all, the one billion dollar settlement would compensate 14 cities and counties for damage done by the 2015 Butte Fire, the 2017 North Bay Firestorm, and the 2018 Camp Fire.

The payment is part of PG&E’s proposed reorganization plan following its decision to file for bankruptcy in January of this year. No money will be available until the bankruptcy is finalized, and that’s not expected until sometime in 2020.

The settlement followed days of mediation in San Francisco, and is meant to help cities and counties recover costs not paid by government assistance or insurance.

The agreement is being hailed by Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chair David Rabbitt, and Santa Rosa mayor Tom Schwedhelm as another key to recovery and moving forward following the devastation of the October 2017 Firestorm across Sonoma County.