加州大火和CEO离职后PG&E濒临破产

太平洋燃气电力公司（PG&E）表示将在加州申请破产，原因是森林大火造成的损失有可能让其背负300亿美元或以上的债务。PG&E股价随之应声大跌，CEO也因此而离职。

总部设在旧金山的PG&E周一向美国证券交易委员会提交的报告显示，目前公司打算在1月29日前后按照美国破产法第11章的破产保护程序重组，此前按要求需要提前15天向员工发出通知。上周日，PG&E开始寻找新的领导者，以取代离任CEO，57岁的盖夏·威廉姆斯。同时，公司法务总顾问约翰·西蒙将代掌PG&E。威廉姆斯2017年3月成为公司CEO，在她离职前，PG&E经历了灾难般的三个月

自2018年11月加州发生历史上伤亡人数最多的森林大火以来，PG&E的市值已经蒸发了三分之二。公司债券评级已被降至垃圾级，加州监管部门也已要求管理层做出调整。调查机构开始探究大火是否由这家大型电力公司的设备引发，以及它是否要为2017年摧毁加州北部葡萄酒产区的大火负责——公司提交给证券交易委员会的文件显示，此项成本“可能超过300亿美元”。

截至上周五PG&E持有的现金和现金等价物金额为15亿美元，远低于这一数字。上述文件称，公司董事会的结论是按破产法第11章进行重组“是让PG&E恢复财务稳定的唯一可行方案。”

周一上午8点，纽约证券交易所开盘前，PG&E股价下跌42%，降至10.28美元。

由于财务危机加重，加州监管部门和决策者不得不考虑对PG&E施以救助。公司表示，对员工和那些可能因公司电线引发火灾而索赔的人来说，破产是今后的最佳途径。

一份公告可能意味着这家公司开始加速推进申请破产计划，以便应付2017和2018年火灾带来的巨额债务。这些火灾造成逾100人丧生，同时摧毁了数十万英亩土地。它还给加州新任州长加文·纽森和州议员带来了压力，因为他们需要提出有可能让PG&E维持偿付能力的方案。

纽森在上周四的新闻发布会上表示，州政府可能在随后几天发布和PG&E相关的公告，而且这个问题是他的首要任务。随后纽森又在接受采访时说，该公告中的人事任命可能涉及加州公用事业委员会，也就是加州电网运营机构，以及州议员组成的森林火灾调查委员会。

加州州长办公室发言人内森·克里克上周六称，纽森“正在非常密切地关注相关局势。”

PG&E的财务问题已经波及该公司的天然气和电力供应商。掌握第一手消息的人士上周透露，因担心PG&E无力付款，至少有两家小型天然气生产企业已经对其采取限售措施。熟悉内情的人士也在上周称，几家银行正在从长远角度考虑全球最大地热能项目Geysers的20亿美元发债计划，因为Geysers也是PG&E的供应商。

此前已有高管离任

作为全球商业界最有影响力的女性之一，威廉姆斯的离职让《财富》美国500强公司的女掌门人数有所下降——目前这个群体有二十几人。她也曾是电力公司女性高管之一，与杜克能源公司的林恩·古德、埃尔帕索电力公司的玛丽·基普、PNM Resources的帕特-文森特·克劳恩以及Sunrun的林恩·朱莉奇并驾齐驱。

上周日，威廉姆斯在通过个人电子邮件发送的公告中表示：“领导PG&E并为加州北部和中部1600万居民服务真的是一份荣誉。我很珍惜这个机会，同时祝所有同事好运。”

作为古巴政治难民的女儿，执掌PG&E让威廉姆斯成为《财富》美国500强公司首位拉丁裔CEO。在她离任前，已有三位PG&E高管于本月初卸任，包括PG&E公用事业部门电力业务高级副总裁帕特里克·霍根、电力资产管理业务副总裁凯文·达索以及电力传输业务副总裁格雷格·莱姆勒。

在威廉姆斯治下，PG&E花了数百万美元来说服议员更改加州征收补偿法律。按照此项法律，如果发现公用事业公司的设备引发野火，就算没有失职，这些公司也要为火灾损失承担责任。威廉姆斯说该法律是一项差劲的公共政策，因为它让加州公用事业公司成了义务保险商。她还指出，野火是气候变化的体现，天气变得更热、更干燥，从而更频繁地引发更严重的火灾。

葡萄酒产区的账单

虽然州议员拒绝按PG&E的要求修订上述野火责任法，但他们也在2018年8月通过了旨在帮助该公司对葡萄酒产区火灾进行诉讼赔偿的法案。但三个月后，PG&E的设备再次因为可能引发森林大火而遭受调查。这场火灾造成86人丧生，并将天堂镇付之一炬。

2018年12月，加州监管部门指控PG&E伪造记录，涉及2012至2017年地下天然气管道的位置和标记，这让公司管理层得到的支持进一步减弱。正是在这几年中，PG&E一直想让公众相信，在2010年燃气管道爆炸造成加州圣布鲁诺的8人丧生后，该公司已经进行了整顿。（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校：夏林

PG&E said it will file for bankruptcy in California after the cost of wildfires left it with potential liabilities of $30 billion or more, gutting its share price and prompting the departure of its chief executive officer.

The San Francisco-based company said it currently intends to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code on or about Jan. 29 after giving the required 15-day notice to its employees, according to a filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. On last Sunday, the company started searching for a new leader after Geisha Williams, 57, quit as CEO. General counsel John Simon will take the helm in the meantime. The departure of Williams, who took over as CEO in March 2017, follows a catastrophic three months for PG&E.

The company has seen two-thirds of its market value wiped out since November’s Camp Fire—the deadliest wildfire in California’s history. Its debt has been downgraded to junk and state regulators have called for a management shakeup. Investigators have been probing whether the power giant’s equipment ignited the fire, along with its potential liability for blazes that devastated Northern California’s wine country in 2017—costs that “could exceed $30 billion,” according to the filing.

That would dwarf the $1.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents on hand as of last Friday. The board concluded that a Chapter 11 reorganization “is ultimately the only viable option to restore PG&E’s financial stability,” according to the filing.

Shares of PG&E fell 42% to $10.28 at 8 a.m., before the start of regular trading in New York.

The company’s deepening financial crisis has forced California regulators and policy makers to consider a bailout package and PG&E. The utility said bankruptcy was the best way forward for employees and those who are claiming losses from wildfires that may have been caused by its power lines.

A notice may signal that the company has accelerated plans to make a Chapter 11 filing as way of dealing with crippling liabilities from the wildfires of 2017 and 2018 that killed more than 100 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres. It also puts pressure on California’s new governor, Gavin Newsom, and legislators to come up with a plan that could keep the utility solvent.

Newsom said during a press conference last Thursday that his office would be making an announcement related to PG&E within the next few days and that the issue was at the top of his agenda. He said in a later interview that the announcement would involve appointments to the California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s grid operator and to a commission established by legislature to explore wildfire issues.

Nathan Click, a spokesman for Newsom’s office, said last Saturday that he’s “monitoring the situation very closely.”

PG&E’s financial woes have already spread to the companies that supply its natural gas and generate electricity for its customers. At least two small gas suppliers have restricted sales to PG&E out of concern that the company won’t be able to pay, people with direct knowledge of the situation said last week. Some banks are taking a long look at a potential $2 billion debt financing for the Geysers, the world’s largest geothermal complex, because it supplies the utility, people familiar with the matter also said last week.

More Exits

The departure of Williams—one of the world’s most powerful women in business—thins the ranks of the roughly two dozen women running S&P 500 companies. She was one of a group of women occupying the C-suite at power companies—including Duke Energy Corp.’s Lynn Good, El Paso Electric Co.’s Mary Kipp, PNM Resources Inc.’s Pat Vincent-Collawn, and Sunrun Inc.’s Lynn Jurich.

“It has truly been an honor to lead PG&E and to serve more than 16 million people in Northern and Central California,” Williams said in her own emailed statement on last Sunday. “I value the opportunity I’ve had to lead PG&E and wish all of my colleagues well.”

The daughter of Cuban political refugees, Williams became the nation’s first Latina CEO of a Fortune 500 company when she took over PG&E. Her departure follows the exit of three PG&E executives earlier this month—Patrick Hogan, senior vice president of electric operations at PG&E’s utility unit; Kevin Dasso, vice president of electric asset management; and Gregg Lemler, vice president of electric transmission.

Under Williams, PG&E spent millions of dollars trying to convince state lawmakers to change a legal doctrine known as inverse condemnation, under which utilities are liable for damages if their equipment is found to have sparked a wildfire, even if they weren’t negligent. Williams called the doctrine bad public policy that made utilities the default insurer in the state. She said the wildfires were a symptom of climate change with hotter and drier conditions sparking more frequent and intense blazes.

Wine Country Bill

While state lawmakers rejected PG&E’s request to change wildfire liability law, they did pass legislation in August 2018 that will help PG&E pay for lawsuits arising from the wine country fires. Three months later, however, the utility’s equipment again was being looked at as a possible source of the Camp Fire, which killed 86 people and destroyed the town of Paradise.

Support for PG&E’s management eroded even further in December 2018 when state regulators accused the utility of falsifying records related to locating and marking underground gas lines from 2012 through 2017—years in which the company was trying to convince the public that it had cleaned up its act after a 2010 pipeline blast that killed eight in San Bruno, California.