SoCal Edison Reaches $2.2 Billion Settlement for Woolsey Fire

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Burned-out vehicles stand in Paradise,
Burned-out vehicles stand in Paradise, California, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018. The number of acres burned in the blazes -- including the Hill and Woolsey fires in Southern California, and the Camp fire in Northern California, which has killed at least 48 people and destroyed the city of Paradise -- already is higher than the total burned in wildfires last year, A.M. Best Co. wrote in a report late Tuesday. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Edison International’s Southern California Edison utility will pay $2.2 billion to settle insurance claims for the Woolsey fire that tore through Malibu in 2018.

The company also reached settlements with plaintiffs involving the 2017 Thomas and Koenigstein fires and the 2018 Montecito mudslides, it said in a statement. Edison, which did not admit wrongdoing or liability, last year reached a $360 million settlement with local government agencies that were harmed by the same fires.

Utility equipment has been tied to several devastating California wildfires in recent years, saddling the state’s power companies with billions of dollars in potential liabilities and forcing its largest, PG&E Corp., into bankruptcy in 2019.

Edison Chief Executive Officer Pedro Pizarro said in the statement that Monday’s settlement was “another significant step toward resolving pending wildfire-related litigation.”

The utility estimates that total expected losses for the 2017 and 2018 events are $4.6 billion.

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