December 6, 2019
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara will have to choose whether he wants insurers to charge higher rates or to stop writing homeowners insurance in fire-prone areas, an industry representative said following new wildfire directives announced by the commissioner. Lara on …
December 5, 2019
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Thursday issued a mandatory one-year moratorium on insurance companies non-renewing policyholders, a move he says will help at least 800,000 homes in wildfire disaster areas in Northern and Southern California. The commissioner’s action is …
December 5, 2019
Bankrupt California power producer PG&E Corp. is close to finalizing terms for a $13.5 billion payout to victims of wildfires triggered by its power lines, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The payment will be made …
December 3, 2019
Bankrupt California power producer PG&E Corp. did not properly inspect and replace transmission lines before a faulty wire sparked a wildfire that killed more than 80 people in 2018, a probe by a state regulator has concluded. The Caribou-Palermo transmission …
December 2, 2019
Note: This has been updated with FAIR Plan comments below. Changes to the insurance plan offered by California’s property insurer of last resort could possibly go into effect as early as the next few months – that is if no …
December 2, 2019
The nation’s largest utility said Friday that its distribution lines haven’t sparked any major wildfires since it began shutting off power to Northern California customers during periods of high fire risk. However, Pacific Gas & Electric is not ruling out …
November 27, 2019
Lauris Bye, a homebuilding industry veteran who moved to Southern California’s wildfire-prone hills decades ago, felt confident about the newly built house he was buying about 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. It had safety features tucked into the …
November 25, 2019
California utility PG&E Corp. has imposed 10 intentional blackouts this year to reduce risks its power infrastructure could spark wildfires and said they will continue for a decade. PG&E initially said outages would happen only a couple of times a …
November 25, 2019
The Santa Ana winds were blowing as Greg Medeiros ducked behind his Chevy Tahoe on a remote hillside 25 miles from the edge of Los Angeles’s sprawl. He gestured to the valley below, describing his vision of Centennial, the city …
November 21, 2019
About 50,000 homes and businesses across Northern California were without power on Wednesday during the latest planned outage instituted by utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to guard against risk of wildfire during dry, windy weather. The precautionary shutoffs included …