Federal energy regulators said on Friday they had joint jurisdiction with a bankruptcy court over any requests to cancel or renegotiate power contracts by California utility PG&E Corp, which is preparing to file for bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was a win for power producers that supply PG&E with vast amounts with solar and wind power. NextEra Energy Inc, which has several contracts with PG&E, last week asked FERC to declare that PG&E may not modify its wholesale power contracts without the commission’s approval if it files for bankruptcy. Several other power producers filed comments in support of NextEra’s request, including Exelon Corp., NRG Energy Inc., Consolidated Edison Inc., First Solar Inc. and Southern Co. Read more.
In related news, PG&E Corp. is skipping payments it agreed to make to people whose property was destroyed in a 2015 blaze in the Sierra Nevada foothills caused by a tree falling on a power line that officials have blamed on the utility, Bloomberg News reported. So far, California’s largest investor-owned utility has failed to make payments of about $1.5 million to four families whose properties were destroyed by the Butte fire, and appears prepared to turn its back on at least another seven settlement agreements worth about $2.5 million, according to plaintiffs’ lawyer Amanda Riddle. The utility explained to a judge in a Jan. 23 letter that money is too tight now to commit to honoring the settlements — two days before PG&E said its board approved a $75,000 raise for its senior vice president of gas operations. Read more.
