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I think you missed part of the article: "The utility company’s stock has lost more than 80% of its value since the 2017 fires broke out, and its credit rating

I think you missed part of the article: "The utility company’s stock has lost more than 80% of its value since the 2017 fires broke out, and its credit rating has been downgraded to junk status." How was the downside risk of the shareholders socialized? PG&E doesn't have carte blanche, it is a regulated monopoly, any changes to the rate structure has to be approved. As for the company dying, people in California will probably prefer to continue having the electricity

pmoriarty 8y ago
"PG&E doesn't have carte blanche, it is a regulated monopoly, any changes to the rate structure has to be approved." How often do the rate increases that they seem to announce virtually every month actually get rejected? Do they even ever not get approved? I have not done the comparisons myself, but I have heard that California's energy prices are some of the highest in the country. I don't understand how that can be if their prices really are held artificially low by the government.