PG&E makes first payment to Sonoma County organizations under Kincade Fire settlement

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has made the first of five court-mandated annual payments to local nonprofits supporting community members affected by the 2019 Kincade Fire, the largest fire on record in Sonoma County.

The payment, totaling $1.2 million, falls under the terms of a settlement agreement reached in April between Sonoma County and the California-based utility giant.

The 2019 Kincade Fire burned more than 77,000 acres, displaced about 200,000 people through evacuations, and destroyed 174 homes. A state investigation into the fire traced the start to degraded equipment on a PG&E tower in the Mayacamas Mountains east of Geyserville.

Under the settlement, PG&E agreed to pay $20.25 million in payments to local institutions, and five years of District Attorney oversight of the utility’s local wildfire prevention initiatives.

In return, prosecutors dropped eight felony charges and 22 misdemeanor counts against the company.

Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch called the settlement “the best outcome for the people of” Sonoma County, in a Dec. 22 news release.

“It provides a significant financial punishment, coupled with oversight,” Ravitch said. “In addition, a large portion of the funds are going to local nonprofits providing services to those in our community affected by wildfires.”

PG&E last year agreed to pay $31 million to Sonoma County and the cities of Santa Rosa, Windsor, Cloverdale and Healdsburg for government costs and damages from the Kincade Fire. The county and four cities had sued the utility in a case separate from Ravitch’s criminal prosecution of PG&E.

The criminal case settlement approved by Judge Patrick Broderick prohibits PG&E from charging customers rate increases to cover the costs of the payments.

PG&E’s payments will go to seven organizations and five clinics in and near Sonoma County named in the settlement.

“We tried to identify services that assist people and have assisted people who were in harm’s way because of the fires,” Ravitch said in an interview Tuesday.

In the first payment, Fire Safe Sonoma and Conservation Corps North Bay each received the first of five $200,000 payments from PG&E.

The utility also paid $100,000 each to Nuestra Communidad, Council on Aging, Interfaith Shelter Network, Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin and Jameson Humane. PG&E owes those organizations four more annual payments of $100,000.

Five Sonoma County health clinics — Petaluma Health Center, Jewish Community Free Clinic, Sonoma Valley Community Health Center, West County Health Centers and Alexander Valley Health Care — also each received the first of five $60,000 payments, the release said.

Separate from the first payments to local organizations, PG&E has also paid $1.5 million to Santa Rosa Junior College for its Fire Technology Program Plan, and $500,000 for the college’s vegetation management training program. The settlement requires the company make additional payments to the college for those programs over the next four years.

The agreement also requires PG&E hire at least 80 new wildfire safety-related positions in Sonoma County, and implement wildfire safety measures in the county. A team of independent experts in the energy field is overseeing the company’s progress in carrying out those mandates over the next five years.

Finally, the company has paid $750,000 to reimburse the district attorney’s office for legal costs and $1.5 million in civil penalties. Under the agreement, PG&E agreed to pay $7.5 million in total civil penalties over five years.

PG&E is due to make its next round of payments by Dec. 31, 2023, according to the final judgment.

“Nothing pleases me more than to be able to help direct this funding to so many outstanding agencies in our community,” said Ravitch, who is in her final week in office after three terms. “And it’s going to continue for four more years.”

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.