PG&E has become infamous for causing wildfires of large proportions because of faulty equipment, to the extent of having filed for bankruptcy this past January. This past Wednesday a broken PG&E transmission tower started another fire in the Sonoma County, known as the Kincade Fire. This happened as PG&E began to cut power in the area to prevent something like this. As of now it has consumed over 21,900 acres of land, and is expected to spread even more before it can be put out. Over the past year PG&E has intensified its measures to prevent situations like these, but the public remains skeptic of their effectiveness as fires occur once more.
For PG&E shareholders this comes as grave news, as it can affect the outcome of its bankruptcy filing. The current plan wipes out shareholders but keeps bondholders; if PG&E is found liable it will wipe them out as well. PG&E remains a publicly traded company, and major firms such as Citibank and Morgan Stanley are betting the stock ticker going from $5 to $0 soon. Without a doubt, with each day the Kincaid fire spreads so will the one in PG&E’s stock price.
