Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has become synonymous with California’s devastating wildfire crises.
Behind the flames, blackened landscapes, and uprooted lives lies a company whose profit-driven practices have sparked destruction on a staggering scale.
The facts demand accountability—not deflection, not excuses, but a reckoning.
The hard numbers speak for themselves.
Between 2017 and 2021, PG&E equipment was directly linked to more than 1,500 fires.
Among the most infamous, the Camp Fire in 2018 incinerated the town of Paradise, claiming 85 lives and destroying over 18,000 structures.
Investigators found that PG&E’s aging infrastructure—specifically a nearly 100-year-old transmission tower—had caused the fire.
PG&E admitted guilt to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter, an unprecedented moment in corporate crime history.
The financial toll is staggering.
PG&E has faced billions in lawsuits, settlements, and penalties, including a $13.5 billion settlement with wildfire victims.
Yet, these payouts come with a bitter irony: much of the cost has been passed to ratepayers.
Customers, already grappling with the emotional and economic fallout of fires, now face increased utility rates to cover PG&E’s liabilities.
Meanwhile, PG&E executives continue to draw multimillion-dollar salaries.
The human toll is immeasurable.
… But it’s not just California.
The Marshall Fire in Colorado, another devastating example of corporate negligence, highlights that the same issues plague utilities across the country.
Xcel Energy’s failure to properly manage equipment and infrastructure contributed to one of the most destructive fires in Colorado’s history.
Just like PG&E, Xcel’s profit-driven practices have placed financial gain above human safety, leading to catastrophic consequences.
In both states, utility companies have failed to invest in necessary maintenance and upgrades, ignoring warnings in favor of prioritizing shareholder dividends.”
Survivors of these disasters recount harrowing escapes through walls of flame, the loss of family members, and the obliteration of entire communities.
Beyond the physical destruction lies a pervasive trauma that no settlement can heal.
Why does this keep happening?
The answer lies in PG&E’s and Xcel’s business model.
The same financial interests are monetizing both PG&E and Xcel.
As publicly traded companies, both PG&E and Xcel Energy prioritize shareholder profits over infrastructure investment.
Decades of deferred maintenance, failure to modernize equipment, and insufficient vegetation management have created a perfect storm for catastrophic failures.
Even as climate change exacerbates fire conditions, both companies have neglected to adapt, their focus remaining fixed on quarterly earnings rather than long-term safety.
This profit-driven mindset, shared by major institutional investors like BlackRock and Vanguard, continues to undermine the safety of communities while fueling their own financial growth.
Despite repeated warnings and mounting evidence of risk, PG&E’s approach has been reactive, not proactive.
The company’s bankruptcy filings in 2001 and again in 2019 reflect a pattern: escaping accountability through financial restructuring while failing to fundamentally change.
Each time, PG&E has emerged intact, with a renewed license to operate, but with little meaningful reform.
Let’s be clear: PG&E’s failures are not isolated incidents.
They represent a systemic issue within the utility sector, where monopolistic practices shield companies from competition and scrutiny.
PG&E’s near-monopoly in Northern California leaves customers with few alternatives.
Even after convictions, fines, and public outrage, the cycle of negligence continues.
What can be done, when even our Hollywood elite don’t stand?
First, California must enforce stricter oversight and penalties, holding PG&E, Xcel Energy, and other utilities to higher standards.
State regulators and lawmakers must stop capitulating to corporate lobbying and act to ensure public safety comes before profit.
Second, there must be significant investment in infrastructure modernization—such as burying power lines and implementing advanced monitoring technologies—to prevent these disasters from recurring.
Third, the public must demand a shift in the utility model itself, exploring alternatives like municipalization or cooperative ownership, which would prioritize safety and community welfare over corporate profits.
We must also acknowledge the insidious role of Big Pharma, whose massive influence over policy and regulation mirrors the practices of these utilities.
Like PG&E, Big Pharma’s focus on profit at any cost has led to catastrophic consequences, from rising drug prices to public health crises.
The systems that protect both the pharmaceutical and utility industries need reform to ensure that public safety is the priority, not corporate greed.
PG&E and Xcel Energy’s unchecked power has cost California and Colorado too much.
Lives, homes, entire towns, and even public health have been sacrificed for the sake of profits.
The flames of the next wildfire—and the next health crisis—are not inevitable; they are preventable.
But prevention requires action, and action demands a collective refusal to accept the status quo.
The time for apologies and half-measures is over.
PG&E, Xcel, and Big Pharma must be held to the highest standards—not just for their past failures but for the futures they are shaping.
Anything less is a betrayal of those who have already lost everything.