How Can PG&E Navigate Rising Costs, Extreme Weather, and Modernizing the Grid

Wildfires and recording-breaking heat waves continue to pose huge challenges for Pacific Gas and Electric, the state’s largest investor-owned utility. The company has undergone years of turmoil and legal trouble after its equipment sparked multiple wildfires including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people in Paradise. PG&E emerged from bankruptcy in 2020 and is now under new leadership, but how well the company can navigate safety concerns, corporate responsibility, and cost control after years of mismanagement remains uncertain. We take stock of PG&E and how the utility can move forward.

Guests:

Michael Wara, policy director for the Sustainability Accelerator at the Doerr School of Sustainability; director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program and senior research scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University

David Roberts, author and host of Volts, a newsletter and podcast about clean energy and politics

Lily Jamali, senior reporter, Marketplace

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