As firefighters in California are still battling the remains of the California wildfires, The CEO of PG&E also known as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Bill Johnson on Friday said struggling Californians still have their houses because of the blackouts coordinated by PG&E. This caused a lot of outrage from people.
PG&E has faced an enormous amount of criticism on the planned public safety blackouts. The blackouts intention was to prevent electrical equipment from sparking fires. It may have done more harm than good as experts have said. An ABC7 reporter asked Bill Johnson, CEO of PG&E, on Friday what he would say to low-income families who are being forced to leave and restock their refrigerators because of the power outages. Johnson replied by saying “the main thing is, we didn’t cause any fires” or “burn down any houses.”
Johnson also said, “The Kincade Fire is still under investigation. I got that. But one of the things we did was give them the opportunity to actually refill their refrigerator cause their house is still there.”
PG&E has faced an investigation in its role in the wildfires that have been happening in California. After last year’s deadly Camp Fire that killed at least 88 people and left the town of Paradise in destruction. PG&E said their equipment was probably what caused the blaze, according to the New York Times. This May, the Federal District Court judge ordered directors of the utility company to visit Paradise and create a new safety committee. A month later, PG&E reached a $1 billion in settlement with California cities, counties, and agencies for the damage caused by that fire.
California State Sen. Mike McGuire said in a tweet, “This is the most out of touch and outrageous statement by PG&E’s CEO. Californians should be appreciative that you didn’t burn down their homes (this time)!?! Total BS. You’re a broken corporation who – for decades – have put your shareholders before the safety of your customers.”
State Sen. Scott Weiner said Johnson’s comments were “gross” and that he is going to work to pass a legislation that would “force PG&E to compensate people” for all their spoiled food and other damages caused by the company’s blackouts.
The California Gavin Newsom has been very open in his criticism of PG&E, saying they need to be held accountable for “decades of mismanagement” and “focusing on shareholders and dividends” over the public. He threatened to take over the company if it did not get out of bankruptcy. Newsom cautioned the public not to target workers on the ground. PG&E workers have been threatened because of this. Newsom then said during a press conference, “they didn’t create this mess. They’re trying to fix it.” The Sacramento Bee reported.
PG&E on Friday said it had “restored power to nearly all customers” who lost their power during the coordinated power outages between Oct. 26 and Oct. 29. Johnson then made a statement, “No one wants these kinds of shutdowns. But it is necessary to protect our customers and communities.”
PG&E previously said the company’s power outages, at one point, had affected nearly 2.7 million people. PG&E’s power lines could have been responsible for two wildfires in San Francisco, the company said Monday.
I do think not think this company will exist in a few years if fires keep happening every other year. People want to rely on a safe reliable company and PG&E has not been that company. If this keeps happening, I think it will go bankrupt. Then another company will be started that will learn from PG&E mistakes and be a lot better. The CEO of the PG&E company does not really have to worry about anything because they have money. They do not live a normal life like a majority of Americans. If the CEO loses his house then he can easily replace it because he has money compared to a normal american where they can find it difficult to find a home. Power Outages Affects everyone who is involved. It can hurt businesses because they have to leave and can’t make their money they need to support themselves. People who need medical machines to support them struggle the most because their machines turn off and there can be big consequences because of that.
