PG&E Sponsors TV Wildfire Commercials — Though You Wouldn’t Know By Watching Them

PG&E Sponsors TV Wildfire Commercials — Though You Wouldn’t Know By Watching Them

By Hannah Norman, SAN FRANCISCO BUSINESS TIMES

August 16, 2018

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2018/08/16/pge-sponsoring-tv-wildfire-commercials-brite.html

PG&E and California’s other major utilities are backing television ads across the state, sponsoring messaging favoring an overhaul to the state’s wildfire liability rules.

The ads were created by the Building Resilient Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s Economy (BRITE) coalition, comprised of more than 1,300 organizations and individuals, including California’s three investor backed utilities, business representatives, state lawmakers and Chamber of Commerce leaders, such as San Francisco’s president Tallia Hart.

“California holds all its utilities completely responsible for any fire that happens under their lines, whether they did anything wrong or not,” former Sacramento City Councilmember Rob Fong says in one commercial, overlayed by montages of smoky, red hot hillsides.

“The wildfires make it incredibly difficult for people to invest in California,” Hart adds.

Yet after the minute-long commercial rolls to a stop, BRITE’s logo — not a single utility’s — asks Californians to take action to up the state’s climate resiliency and upgrade emergency response systems, as well as change how utilities are held accountable.

PG&E shares plunged after Cal Fire blamed the power company’s equipment for the wildfires which devastated Wine Country in October. Forty-four people were killed, as the fires destroyed 8,900 structures and 6,100 autos. Nearly $10 billion in commercial and residential insurance claims have been tallied by the state, and as many as 200 lawsuits have been filed against PG&E from 2,700 plaintiffs.

Many have been quick to see the connection.

“It’s nothing more than a name to put on the end of a television commercial other than PG&E,” Jamie Court, president of the Consumer Watchdog advocacy group, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “It’s as phony as they come.”

Two of the coalition’s chief goals, as listed on their website are reforming “the liability without fault standard for inverse condemnation” and ensuring that utilities are held responsible only when they’ve “acted imprudently and that imprudence was a significant contributing cause of the wildfire.”

The ads are just one part of coalition’s full throttle approach to easing the blame placed on utilities. Earlier this week, the group held a rally in Sacramento at the state Capitol. PG&E has also spent months lobbying for these same changes to state law.

Already, a series of laws have been proposed. Last month, Governor Jerry Brown laid out a bill that would ease wildfire financial burdens on PG&E and California’s utilities, though it would not be applied retroactively.

Fighting against BRITE’s California policy efforts is an advocacy group spearheaded by some of the lawyers and homeowners suing PG&E, dubbed Up from the Ashes and found at holdpgeaccountable.com. Another led by the insurance industry is called Stop the Utility Bailout.

Latest Energy Videos
Video thumbnail
Who is Behind SB 540?
02:29
Video thumbnail
ABC 7: Controversial CA Energy Bill Moves Forward
08:15
Video thumbnail
KCBS-LA (CBS) - Los Angeles, CA: Late-Night Vote Can Spike Gas Prices
02:26
Video thumbnail
KCAL-LA - Los Angeles, CA: How Will Phillips 66 Closing The Refinery Impact Consumers At The Pump?
03:04
Video thumbnail
KCBS-LA (CBS) - Los Angeles, CA: Phillips 66 To Close Refinery
03:01
Video thumbnail
KGO-SF (ABC) - San Francisco, CA: Controversy Over SF's Bottle Bank Pilot
04:40
Video thumbnail
KTLA-LA (CW) - Los Angeles, CA: Newsom Signs Gas Law Aimed At Preventing Spike In Gas Prices
03:14
Video thumbnail
KNBC-LA (NBC) - Los Angeles, CA: New CA Law Aims To Protect Gas Price Spikes
02:14
Video thumbnail
KTTV-LA (FOX) - Los Angeles, CA: New Laws On Oil And Gas In California
03:04
Video thumbnail
Consumer Alert: Newsom Takes on Gasoline Price Spikes
00:31
Video thumbnail
KCBS-LA (CBS) - Los Angeles, CA: Chevron Moving Headquarters to TX
03:03
Video thumbnail
KGTV-SD (ABC) - San Diego, CA: Californians Overcharged For Gas in 2015
01:55
Video thumbnail
KTXL-SAC (FOX) - Sacramento, CA: Oil Windfall Profits Law Under Microscope
06:06
Video thumbnail
KGTV-SD (ABC) - San Diego, CA: Watchdog Blames Oil Industry For High Prices
02:26
Video thumbnail
KGTV-SD (ABC) - San Diego, CA: Who's To Blame For Recent Spikes In Gas Prices?
02:16
Video thumbnail
Support Oil Driller Accountability, AB 3155
00:54
Video thumbnail
Consumer Alert: The Buck Stops This Summer
01:29
Video thumbnail
New Consumer Alert Exposes Deceptive Oil Industry Attack On Governor Newsom
01:39
Video thumbnail
KOVR-SAC (CBS) - Sacramento, CA: Signs Fueling Debate Over Gas Tax
02:24
Video thumbnail
Consumer Alert: More Deceptive Big Oil Ads Targeting California
01:31
Video thumbnail
KGO-SF (ABC) - San Francisco, CA: CRV Fee on Alcohol Starts On January 1st
02:31
Video thumbnail
Consumer Alert: Deceptive Oil Ads
01:38
Video thumbnail
Consumer Alert: Big Oil’s BS Mailer
01:52
Video thumbnail
KABC-LA, CA: Lawmakers Should Prevent Refineries from Selling Expensive Summer Blend of Gas Overseas
02:58
Video thumbnail
KPIX-SF (CBS) - San Francisco, CA: California Gas Prices Are Soaring Again
00:32
Video thumbnail
KCAL-LA - Los Angeles, CA: Gas Prices Skyrocketing
02:52
Video thumbnail
KTLA-LA (CW) - Los Angeles, CA: So Cal Gas Prices Nearing $6 a Gallon
03:20
Video thumbnail
Spectrum News 1 (San Fernando Valley) - Los Angeles, CA: Controversy Over Gas Storage Facility
03:50
Video thumbnail
KFMB-SD (CBS) - San Diego, CA: Gas Tax Increase Takes Effect July 1st
03:23
Video thumbnail
CBS 8 - Los Angeles, CA: What You Need to Know About Gas Prices
02:02
Video thumbnail
KGO-SF (ABC) - San Francisco, CA: BottleBank Update, Is It Really Effective?
02:39
Video thumbnail
Senator Portantino, Shame on You
01:18
Video thumbnail
Senator Portantino: Protect Our Communities From Oil Drillers
00:51
Video thumbnail
KERO-BFL (ABC) - Bakersfield, CA; Oil Drilling Near Homes Can Cause Health and Safety Concerns
03:06
Video thumbnail
KNBC - LA, CA; Consumer Watchdog's Liza Tucker On New Concerns With Santa Susana Field Lab Clean Up
04:09
Video thumbnail
(ABC) - LA, CA; SoCal Edison's New Income Based Proposed Charges Might Not Be As Stable As They Seem
02:40
Video thumbnail
(CBS)-Fresno, CA; Victory For Californians As Bill Passes That Will Regulate Profits Of Oil Refiners
02:17
Video thumbnail
CNBC - Jamie Court Speaks About The Bill That Would Penalize Oil Refineries For Price Gouging
06:39
Video thumbnail
KXTV(ABC) - Sacramento, CA; Governor Newsom Announced A New Deal With Lawmakers To Take On Big Oil
02:56
Video thumbnail
KNBC-LA (NBC) - Los Angeles, CA; Holding Utility Companies Accountable For Power Outages
02:01
Video thumbnail
Consumer Watchdog at CA Senate Energy Cmte 2 22 23
50:54
Video thumbnail
KFMB CW - San Diego, CA; Oil Companies Need to be Held Accountable for High Gas Prices
02:42
Video thumbnail
KTTV (FOX) - Los Angeles, CA; Recap Of Jamie Court's Testimony At The Senate Hearing For Gas Prices
05:07
Video thumbnail
KGTV(ABC) - SD, CA; Jamie Court Will Testify at the Price Gouging Hearing for Rising Gas Prices
01:17
Video thumbnail
KTTV-LA (FOX) - Los Angeles, CA; SoCal Gas Bill Sticker Shock
04:24
Video thumbnail
Spectrum News 1 - Los Angeles, CA; Who Is SoCal Gas Buying Their Gas From?
09:18
Video thumbnail
Why SoCal Gas is at Fault For Doubling Your Natural Gas Bill
01:43
Video thumbnail
KNBC - Los Angeles, CA; Spike In Natural Gas Prices
02:32
Video thumbnail
KCBS - Los Angeles, CA; New Year, New Pain At The Pump
03:02
Latest Energy Report

Subscribe to our newsletter

To be updated with all the latest news, press releases and special reports.