CEO of Nation’s Biggest Utility Talks Affordability, Fires, Outages, and Public Outrage

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After PG&E pled guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the 2018 Camp Fire, Patti Poppe was brought on as the utility’s new CEO. Her stated mission: to fix it. Now, rising electricity prices, repeated power outages, and the growing impact of climate change have put PG&E in the crosshairs of the public and legislators. Again. This summer, California lawmakers rejected a bill that would have capped the utility’s liability if their equipment sparks another fire. In response. PG&E announced it would defer roughly $2 billion in capital investments planned for 2027 as it works to strengthen its finances and, in Poppe’s words, “reinvent” the company. That means plans to connect new…