'This needs to be solved now, before the next big wildfire,' writes the Times editorial board (via latimesopinion)
The five members of the Commission on Catastrophic Wildfire Cost and Recovery were given no small task: Dive into the highly wonky issues of electric utilities, finance and insurance to come up with a fair and workable plan to spread the cost of future wildfires caused by power lines. And do it without letting power companies off the hook or dumping the entire burden onto ratepayers. And do it in less than six months. With no pay.
And how was their report received? Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders, to their discredit, announced on the very same day that one of the cornerstones of the recommendations — removing the strict liability standard for utilities and replacing it with a fault-based system — was just not going to happen. At least not this year. Thanks anyhow!
The strict liability system — called “inverse condemnation” — requires that utilities pay for any damage to private property caused by their equipment, such as power lines, regardless of fault. The idea is that a utility can pay the cost upfront but then socialize the cost among its broad base of ratepayers.
The move to reverse inverse condemnation was initiated by the state’s largest power companies, which are owned by investors, but inverse condemnation is potentially a bigger problem for public power utilities, some of which are so small that claims from one big fire could threaten their very existence. That’s the predicament of the tiny Trinity Public Utility District, which serves 7,300 customers over 220 square acres in mountainous Trinity County.
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