After deadly blazes, PG&E's bankruptcy promises falling flat

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — The nation’s largest utility has long vowed to change its reckless ways. After leaving a trail of death and destruction through Northern California from wildfires sparked by its equipment, Pacific Gas & Electric's fifth CEO in less than three years is again pledging that the future will get “easier” and “brighter.”

But those promises made by CEO Patricia “Patti" Poppe in her first letter to shareholders are ringing hollow a year after PG&E emerged from one of the most complex bankruptcy cases in U.S. history, an act of desperation driven by a succession of harrowing wildfires ignited by its long-neglected electrical grid.

The bankruptcy, PG&E's second in less than 20 years, was billed as an opportunity for a utility that provides power to 16 million people — a population greater than all but a handful of states — to finally hit the reset button.

So far, however, it has looked more like a reminder of problems that have resulted in tragedy after tragedy the past six years, including a 2018 wildfire that killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.

Already a twice-convicted felon, PG&E has been charged with another round of fire-related crimes that it denies committing. The utility also has been rebuked by California regulators and a federal judge overseeing its criminal probation for breaking promises to reduce the dangers posed by trees near its power lines.

And most of the roughly 70,000 victims who have filed claims for devastation caused by PG&E's past misdeeds are still awaiting payment from a $13.5 billion trust created during the bankruptcy. The trust is facing a nearly $2 billion shortfall because half its funding came in company stock, despite...