Biden Admin Cuts Huge Lame Duck Check For California Utility Bankrupted For Role In Massive Wildfires

The Biden-Harris administration’s Department of ⚡Energy (DOE) announced Tuesday it had offered a conditional loan of up to $15 billion to Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), a California utility company, according to a press release.

The proposed financing from the DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO) is intended to fund a variety of projects aiming to “expand hydropower generation and battery storage, upgrade transmission capacity through reconductoring and grid enhancing technologies, and enable virtual power plants,” according to the press release. The loan commitment is the largest in LPO’s history.

PG&E previously filed for bankruptcy in early 2019, following several massive wildfires that were sparked by its equipment. The utility company announced in April 2022 that it would pay $55 million in order to avoid criminal charges related to two wildfires, the 2019 Kincade Fire and