Many fire survivors still waiting for compensation from PG&E fund: report

Many survivors of fires caused by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) in 2017 and 2018 are still waiting for compensation from the multibillion-dollar fire victim trust that the company set up, PBS Newshour reported on Sunday.

PG&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020, placing about 70,000 claims from fire survivors into the U.S. bankruptcy system. Around half of the deal that was struck in 2019, however, is payable through PG&E stocks.

“Think about that for a second. You know, you lost your home and now you are being asked to accept stock in the company that took your home or destroyed your life,” Lily Jamali from KQED told PBS. “That’s the situation that many of these fire survivors are in.”

According to Jamali, the survivors now hold about a quarter of PG&E’s 480 million shares shares due to this deal.

“Very challenging to liquidate that kind of stuff quickly. And in fact, they haven’t sold a single share. So that’s largely why many of these fire survivors are still waiting for compensation from this settlement,” Jamali explained.

Many of the victims impacted by the fires caused by PG&E reportedly still lack the funds to rebuild their lives, two or three years after the fires took place.

Though the victims are not receiving their full payouts, the trustees and lawyers in charge of the trust for compensation are receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to manage the trust.

“There are a number of bankruptcy attorneys and financial advisers who are making $1,000 an hour or more. And I think what fire survivors are saying is, look, if you’re going to spend that kind of money, we want to see results,” Jamali said.

In an effort to prevent future wildfires caused by power lines, PG&E announced last week that it would spend between $15 billion and $20 billion to bury about 10,000 miles of its power lines.