From 2019 to 2024, PG&E's electricity rates rose by 80% and SCE's by 71%—more than 3 times the rate of inflation over the same period. The primary cause of this remarkable increase was wildfire: the cost of vegetation management, grid hardening, liability insurance, and contributions to the state Wildfire Fund that California utilities pass through to their customers. PG&E customers now pay an ***extra $300 to $500 a year*** for wildfire mitigation.

Second, and perhaps even more importantly, parking wildfire liability on utilities is not a cost-effective way to reduce wildfire risk. Growing wildfire risk in California is the product of many factors aside from ignitions, including climate change, vegetation buildup from poor fuels management, and expansion into the wildland-urban interface (WUI) encouraged by the state’s restrictive urban land use policies and price controls on home insurance under Proposition 103. Utilities control only one of these factors: ignitions.