Thread by @KQEDnews

THREAD: @PGE4Me on Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 #bankruptcy protection, a move the company insists is necessary to contend with at least $30 billion in potential liabilities growing out of the calamitous #wildfire seasons of 2017 and 2018.

@PGE4Me In a simple voluntary petition filed just after midnight Tuesday morning with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, @PGE4Me estimated its liabilities at about $51 billion and its assets at more than $71 billion.

@PGE4Me Despite that solvency, @PGE4Me officials argued that they need the Chapter 11 protections because they are unable to borrow enough cash to cover operating costs.

@PGE4Me As part of the filing, @PGE4Me is asking the court to approve $5.5 billion in financing from nine major banks that will allow the company to keep paying its bills.

@PGE4Me In a written statement, interim .@PGE4Me CEO John Simon said the company will continue to focus on wildfire safety, adding that leaders there have "heard the calls for change" and are committed to emerging from bankruptcy with an "energy system our customers want and deserve."

@PGE4Me When @PGE4Me announced its intention to file bankruptcy on Jan. 14, the state's biggest utility said two years of horrendously costly wildfires had created such a massive potential debt that it needs a bankruptcy court to help restructure the company for its future viability.

@PGE4Me The bulk of that feared debt could come in the form of damage awards and settlements with the 6,000-plus plaintiffs who have filed suit against the company so far after the two seasons of fires.

@PGE4Me Napa State Sen. Bill Dodd, who took the lead last year in negotiating a state response to wildfires, said the company needs new leadership.

@PGE4Me “Given its track record of obfuscation and mismanagement, I’m not surprised @PGE4Me claims it can no longer meet its financial obligations,” he said in a written statement.

@PGE4Me .@PGE4Me stock plummeted after a series of 2017 wildfires that swept through Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties. The utility had been warning for a year that it could face bankruptcy if the state didn’t give it some relief.

@PGE4Me Lawmakers did agree to soften the blow of those 2017 fires by creating a process for the utility to issue ratepayer-backed bonds to pay for costs related to the fires. Less than two months after Gov. Jerry Brown signed that bill, the Camp Fire broke out in Butte County.

@PGE4Me While service to the 16 million people in @PGE4Me's territory will not be interrupted, the bankruptcy filing raises questions — for ratepayers who could end up paying more, for the wildfire victims who have sued the utility and for the company’s creditors and shareholders.

@PGE4Me Even before the filing, @PGE4Me started skipping some payments to fire victims who reached settlements with the company in the 2015 Butte County blaze.

@PGE4Me Follow updates here: kqed.org/news/11721861/…