SoCal Edison to settle Woolsey Fire insurance claims for $2.2B
The 2018 blaze scorched more than 96,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,600 structures in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
(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, reached a $360 million settlement last year 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.
In a statement, Edison Chief Executive Officer Pedro Pizarro said: “We have made another significant step toward resolving pending wildfire-related litigation. This settlement is with all insurance subrogation plaintiffs in the 2018 Woolsey Fire litigation. Combined with the settlement announced on Sept. 23, 2020, in the TKM litigation, SCE has resolved all subrogation plaintiff claims for the 2017/2018 Wildfire/Mudslide Events. The company continues to explore reasonable settlement opportunities with other parties.”
The utility estimates that total expected losses for the 2017 and 2018 events are $4.6 billion.
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