PG&E Corp. told a judge it’s willing to extend the deadline for victims of wildfires caused by the utility’s equipment to file claims in its bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. U.S. District Judge James Donato criticized the company at a hearing last week, saying that it’s “just not right” that less than half of the eligible northern California residents had filed claims by the Oct. 21 deadline. He said yesterday that it’s “good news” that PG&E is willing to continue accepting claims until Dec. 20 and even beyond. He added that he expects a victim participation rate of 90 percent or higher. Judge Donato is tasked with finding PG&E’s potential liability from fire-related losses and estimating damages for the bankruptcy proceeding. At yesterday’s hearing the judge asked lawyers for both sides how the bankruptcy may be affected by the Kincade Fire, which has burned 66,000 acres in Sonoma County north of San Francisco since it started Oct. 23 and continues to rage. While other judges have raised the specter of how future fires might weigh on or derail PG&E’s bankruptcy, Judge Donato is the first to demand information from lawyers about Kincade. Attorneys from both sides agreed to respond quickly, without specifying a date. Read more.
In related news, PG&E Corp.’s bond and stock prices dropped sharply yesterday amid mounting concerns about the bankrupt electric utility’s potential liability related to the Kincade Fire burning in Northern California, the Wall Street Journal reported. The selloff, which began on Friday as the Kincade fire spread, hit bonds hardest Monday, reflecting concerns that bondholders might not recover the full value of their claims in the bankruptcy. PG&E filed a public report on Thursday stating that it became aware of a broken wire on one of its transmission lines in the area seven minutes before the Kincade fire began. PG&E’s $3 billion bond due 2034 fell to 91 cents on the dollar from around 106 on Friday, according to data from MarketAxess, representing a roughly $450 million of paper losses for holders of that security alone. The company has more than a dozen bonds outstanding and about $1.65 billion changed hands yesterday. Read more. (Subscription required.)
