Poll: Will You Support SDG&E Recovering Wildfire Settlement Costs From Ratepayers?

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (SDG&E) on Tuesday announced a $27 million settlement with the City of San Diego over costs related to the Witch Creek and Guejito wildfires of 2007. The settlement is the last one between the utility and government agencies, though 900 individual lawsuits have yet to be resolved.

"Just as with all of the other lawsuits that have been settled to date, SDG&E will seek approval from the CPUC for rate recovery of the costs of this settlement, for whatever amount exceeds insurance and third-party recoveries," SDG&E spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan told Patch on Wednesday.

Donovan said the amount the utility has paid out so far that exceeds insurance coverage and third-party cross claims is $163.2 million as of March 31.

"The $27 million settlement with the city would be added to that amount," she said. "There are still more than 900 unresolved lawsuits as well as third-party cross claims that have not been settled; the outcome of all of those would affect the ultimate total for potential rate recovery."

The utility has an application before the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to establish a , in which it will record expenses. In April, a panel from the PUC came down to San Diego to preside over a Public Participation Hearing on whether SDG&E should be allowed to establish the account. . A proposed decision from that panel is due this month.

"We're still waiting on it," David Peffer, attorney for Utility Consumers Action Network (UCAN) , an opposing party, told Patch on Wednesday.

Regarding Tuesday's settlement announcement, Peffer said "All indications are that this will come out of ratepayers' pockets unless we do something about it. That's just not fair."

Diane Conklin of Mussey Grade Road Alliance in Ramona, another party against the SDG&E move, told Patch by email, "If SDG&E gets what it wants from the PUC, it won't pay a penny of this $27 million settlement. We, the customers, would pay for this settlement, along with all of the other fire costs incurred by SDG&E from the 2007 fires they ignited. Ask yourself: Is this a fair deal? If you think it isn't, contact the CPUC and let them know you don't want WEBA approved."

The proposed decision by the PUC panel that came to San Diego will go to opposing parties for comment and then to a full PUC vote.

"It's important to note that reaching this settlement, as with previous settlements of wildfire litigation, does not constitute any acknowledgement by SDG&E of fault, liability or wrongdoing," Donovan told Patch. "As in similar cases, the parties determined a settlement was the best way to resolve all differences and avoid additional costs and uncertainty."

However, state investigators found that the utility's poorly maintained equipment was a cause.

The Witch Fire, the second largest wildfire in California history, started in the Witch Creek area of eastern Ramona in October 2007 during strong Santa Ana winds and spread to other areas in northern and eastern San Diego County. The Guejito fire started shortly thereafter in San Pasqual Valley and merged with it. Flames moved through Poway, Rancho Bernardo and Rancho Santa Fe. Firefighting agencies spent more than $18 million to quench the Witch Creek Fire alone.