PG&E electricity shutoff confirmed for nearly 800k Northern CA customers

Reading this I imagined their management team sitting around a table discussing: &quot;So the litigation happy people have sued us for billions, legislators refuse to protect us and insurance is not going to cover this at any affordable cost. Best move is to shut down power, that will avoid claims and make it known to Joe the Plumber that current policy is ridiculous.&quot; Other MT member: &quot;But Bob, we&#x27;re the power company, we can&#x27;t turn off the power!&quot; and the final conclusion being that best best chess move is to actually turn off the power.<p>I predict that they&#x27;ll win and within the next few years local politicians are going to change something to ensure the power stays on.

This is where an $11 Billion wildfire settlement leads. If PG&amp;E are being held financially responsible for the actions of their transmission and distribution lines in high wind events then I would expect them to fight for the right to not transmit and distribute power in those events. What&#x27;s bad for consumers is even though you may not live in a high wind area the transmission lines ultimately serving you may be in one and subsequently shut off. On a more positive note, if these actions prevent wildfires that destroy property and claim lives then isn&#x27;t it worth it?

This kinda sucks, but what else are they supposed to do? It&#x27;s already been established that any wildfires caused by their equipment will be their fault; cutting off power in case of potential wildfires would seem to be the only logical way to respond to that reality.