Reporter for KQED’s “The California Report”, Lily Jamali, said Friday that utility company PG&E’s admission to possbily playing a part in the Dixie fire in California is devaluing a trust fund for victims.
Speaking on Hill.TV’s “Rising,” Jamali discussed reporting from Bloomberg News, which detailed how a $13.5 billion settlement with PG&E Corporation to settle claims from fires has been devalued since it admitted in mid-July that it may have started the Dixie Fire.
Under the settlement agreed to last year, the company would pay half in cash and the other via stock in the company. However, the company’s stock price went down following its admission.
“What this whole setup has really done is tether the fate and the compensation of these past fire survivors to how the company performs going forward,” Jamali said.
Jamali further explained that the settlement only covered fires that burned from 2015 to 2018, and not subsequent fires that PG&E has said it may have started.
“Now we’re looking at new liabilities that this company is going to have to pay out eventually and it is affecting the stock price,” she said.
Watch the interview above
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