Articles by Mark Chediak

PG&E Needs California’s Help to Calm Investors Post-Fire, CEO Says

PG&E Corp. wants California to promptly shore up the state’s $21 billion insurance fund for utilities that is at risk of being drained following the recent devastating fires in the Los Angeles area. Investors are concerned that if neighboring utility …

Edison Probing Retired Power Line as Possible Start of LA Eaton Fire

Edison International’s utility is looking at whether a power line retired in 1971 started the Eaton wildfire as part of a probe into the cause of the blaze that razed more than 9,000 structures. Southern California Edison found evidence of …

Edison Utility Sued Over Role of Equipment in Los Angeles Fire

Edison International Inc.’s southern California utility was hit with a lawsuit blaming the energy provider’s equipment for igniting one of the wildfires still raging in the second-largest US metropolis. The lawsuit is on behalf of a group of homeowners, renters, …

California Winds Drive Severe Fire Danger in Rain-Starved LA

Exceptionally powerful, dry winds expected across Southern California this week are set to send wildfire risk skyrocketing in a region that’s endured more than eight months without significant rain. Forecasters predict the strongest Santa Ana wind event of the season …

Strong Northern California Quake Triggered Brief Tsunami Warning

A magnitude-7.0 earthquake off the coast of Northern California triggered a brief tsunami warning across a swath of the U.S. West Coast. The tsunami threat was declared over less than an hour later even as the area experienced multiple aftershocks. …

Hawaiian Electric Finalizes $2 Billion Maui Fire Settlement

Hawaiian Electric Industries formalized a $2 billion agreement to settle damage claims from a wildfire that razed the historic town of Lahaina and killed more than 100 people. The utility-owner had reached a tentative agreement in August in which it, …

Data Centers Will Have to Make Minimum Power Payments in Ohio

Big data centers in Ohio will have to pay a minimum of 85% of the energy they need to cover the costs of grid improvements under a settlement submitted Wednesday by one of the state’s largest utilities. The pact was …

Utilities’ Extreme Plan to Stop Wildfires: Shut Off the Power

A growing number of utilities are resorting to an extreme measure to prevent their equipment from sparking catastrophic wildfires: turning off the power. Electric companies serving about 24 million homes and businesses across the fire-prone US West now have plans …

Utilities’ Extreme Plan to Stop Wildfires: Shut Off the Power

A growing number of utilities are resorting to an extreme measure to prevent their equipment from sparking catastrophic wildfires: turning off the power. Electric companies serving about 24 million homes and businesses across the fire-prone US West now have plans …

Maui Fire Caused by Broken Power Lines, County and US Find

The fire that razed the historic Maui town of Lahaina last year was caused when Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. re-energized broken utility lines that caused sparks to ignite unmaintained dry vegetation, the Maui Fire Department said. The blaze was a …