PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC Co

SB 254

On September 19, 2025, SB 254 became law and became effective. Among other things, the law provides for the Continuation Account, which is designed to provide additional liquidity to reimburse catastrophic wildfire-related claims incurred by large electric corporations (as defined in SB 254), if the Wildfire Fund is depleted. Each of California’s large electric IOUs has elected to participate in the Continuation Account. The Continuation Account would be similar to the Wildfire Fund, except:

•The Continuation Account would provide up to $18 billion of liquidity. If the Wildfire Fund administrator determines that the Continuation Account is necessary prior to December 31, 2028, the CPUC will consider whether to extend the non-bypassable charge on customers from 2036 through 2045. If the CPUC extends the non-bypassable charge on customers, the participating utilities’ annual $300 million contributions will be extended from 2029 through 2045.

The Wildfire Fund administrator is also authorized to determine if additional annual contributions are needed, in which case the participating utilities will contribute an additional $3.9 billion in equal installment payments over five years. If the administrator winds up and terminates the Continuation Account before the final installment payment is made, the utilities will return one-half of the unpaid installment payments as rate credits to customers.

The Utility’s allocation among the participating utilities for these contributions is 47.85%.

•If a utility is required to reimburse the Continuation Account, the amount of reimbursement will be reduced by the amount of contributions for which the utility has not claimed a reduction.

•The disallowance cap on reimbursements, which is equal to 20% of the equity portion of the utility’s electric transmission and distribution rate base, is determined based on the year of the ignition. This revised disallowance cap applies to fires occurring before or after the effective date of SB 254.

Assets in the Continuation Account are separate from the Wildfire Fund and are not available for fires ignited before the effective date of SB 254.

For fires that destroy 1,000 or more structures, SB 254 gives the participating utilities a right of first refusal over insurers’ transactions to sell their right of subrogation, reimbursement, or recovery.

SB 254 also prohibits the Utility from including in its equity rate base the first $2.9 billion that it first expends on fire risk mitigation capital expenditures approved by the CPUC on or after January 1, 2026. The Utility expects to finance this amount with securitization.

SB 254 requires the Wildfire Fund administrator to prepare a report by April 1, 2026 that evaluates and sets forth recommendations on new models or approaches that mitigate damage, accelerate recovery, and responsibly and equitably allocate the burdens from natural catastrophes, including catastrophic wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, across stakeholders, including insurers, communities, homeowners, landowners, governments, large electrical corporations, and local publicly owned electric utilities, to complement or replace the Wildfire Fund.