California Rejects Wildfire Liability Cap; Utility Stocks Plunge — SkimNews
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- California lawmakers rejected Gov. Newsom's amendment to SB 492 that would have shifted wildfire liability costs away from utilities, preserving the right of wildfire survivors, local governments, and insurers to pursue unlimited claims against utilities with no damages cap.
- PG&E Corp. and Edison International saw their stocks plunge 20% and 23% respectively on Monday after the rejection — the largest single-day decline for Edison in over 25 years, per 24/7 Wall Street, with neither recovering by Tuesday morning.
- Bank of America downgraded Edison International from "buy" to "neutral" and slashed its price target from $81 to $51, writing that "with wildfire risk elevated and no policy clarity likely for another year, uncertainty should continue to weigh on EIX."
- SB 868, AB 1738, and AB 1813 all passed and await Newsom's signature — legalizing balcony/portable solar, permitting remote inspections for home energy projects up to 15 KW, and revising the community solar program to cap projects at 5 MW while promoting low-income participation.
- SB 1168 requires the California Public Utilities Commission to assess data center rate structures so that data centers "pay a reasonable share" of transmission and distribution costs, while SB 913 opens pathways for aggregated distributed energy resources to qualify as resource adequacy capacity.
- Advanced Energy United expressed disappointment that the state zeroed out 2027 funding for its Demand Side Grid Support program in a budget revision — a virtual power plant that dispatched more than 500 MW of average output over two hours last summer — though the legislature rejected a broader attempt to "gut" it.
Why it matters: PG&E and Edison International told lawmakers they need tens of billions in annual private investment to reduce wildfire risk and meet clean energy goals, warning that California investors "face risks…unlike in any other state" — meaning higher returns or capital flight. Bank of America captured the market verdict when it cut Edison's target from $81 to $51 over "no policy clarity likely for another year," putting ratepayers on the hook for whatever premium utilities demand to keep building in California.
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