Item 8.01 Other Events.
Wildfire Mitigation and Catastrophic Events (“WMCE”) Costs Recovery Application
On September 30, 2020, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (the “Utility”), a subsidiary of
PG&E Corporation, filed an application with the California Public Utilities Commission (the “CPUC”) requesting cost recovery of recorded expenditures related to wildfire mitigation, certain catastrophic events, and a number of other
activities. The recorded expenditures exclude amounts disallowed as a result of the CPUC’s decision in the Wildfire Order Instituting Investigation into the 2017 Northern California Wildfires and the 2018 Camp Fire and consist of $1.18 billion in
expense and $801 million in capital expenditures, which translate to a revenue requirement of approximately $1.28 billion. The Utility refers to this application as the WMCE application.
The costs addressed in the WMCE application cover activities mainly during the years 2017 to 2019 and are incremental to those previously authorized in the Utility’s 2017
General Rate Case (“GRC”) and other proceedings. The majority of costs addressed in this application reflect work necessary to mitigate wildfire risk during the years 2017 to 2019 and to respond to catastrophic events occurring in 2019. The Utility
recorded these costs to the Fire Hazard Prevention Memorandum Account (FHPMA), the Fire Risk Mitigation Memorandum Account (FRMMA), the Wildfire Mitigation Plan Memorandum Account (WMPMA), and the Catastrophic Event Memorandum Account (CEMA). The
CEMA costs reflected in the application include the Utility’s costs incurred responding to ten catastrophic events, including the 2017 Tubbs fire.
On February 7, 2020, in its Application for Wildfire Mitigation and Catastrophic Events Interim Rates (the “Interim Rate Relief application”), the Utility requested
authorization to recover, on an interim basis, a portion of the costs reflected in the WMCE application, seeking $891 million in revenue. On September 18, 2020, the CPUC issued a proposed decision that would provide for $447 million in interim
relief in the Interim Rate Relief application. Based on the procedural schedule, a final decision in the Interim Rate Relief application could be voted out by the CPUC as soon as October 22, 2020.
In the WMCE application, the Utility proposes to recover the remaining revenue requirement (not otherwise recovered through the Interim Rate Relief application) over a
one-year period following the conclusion of interim rate relief recovery or over a two-year period if interim relief is not authorized by the CPUC. The Utility has proposed a schedule that would call for a final decision by the CPUC in September
2021. The Utility is unable to predict the outcome and timing of the application.
For information about the Interim Rate Relief application, see PG&E Corporation and the Utility’s joint quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30,
2020.
Application to Sell General Office Complex
Also on September 30, 2020, the Utility filed an application with the CPUC to authorize it to sell its San Francisco General Office headquarters complex
(the “SFGO”) located at 215 Market Street, 245 Market Street, 77 Beale Street, 50 Main Street, 25 Beale Street, and 45 Beale Street in downtown San Francisco, and relocate and consolidate this site and certain East Bay office locations into a single
Bay Area corporate headquarters located at 300 Lakeside Drive in Oakland (the “Lakeside Building”), and for appropriate ratemaking treatment of those transactions.
According to this application, the Utility proposes the SFGO sale and headquarters transition proceed in several interrelated steps: the Utility will enter
into the lease, with an option to purchase, the Lakeside Building; the Utility will initiate the sale process for, and ultimately sell, the SFGO, subject to CPUC approval (the “SFGO Sale”); the Utility will enter into an agreement with the buyer of
the SFGO to lease back space during the multi-year relocation period; and as space in the Lakeside Building becomes available following the expiration of existing tenants’ leases and completion of the redevelopment of the property to the Utility’s
specifications, the Utility will relocate employees and operations from the SFGO and certain East Bay office locations to the Lakeside Building in phases over several years, beginning in 2022 (collectively, the “Transactions”).
Is this application, the Utility requests that the CPUC:
For information about the Lakeside Building lease, see PG&E Corporation and the
Utility’s joint quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2020.