California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric--and What It Means for America's Power Grid

by Katherine Blunt

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
2022 Winner of the Golden Poppy Award for Nonfiction (California Independent Booksellers Alliance)

A revelatory, urgent narrative with national implications, exploring the decline of California’s largest utility company that led to countless wildfires — including the one that destroyed the town of Paradise — and the human cost of infrastructure failure

Pacific Gas and Electric was a legacy company built by innovators and visionaries, establishing California as a desirable home and economic powerhouse. In California Burning, Wall Street Journal reporter and Pulitzer finalist Katherine Blunt examines how that legacy fell apart—unraveling a long history of deadly failures in which Pacific Gas and Electric endangered millions of Northern Californians, through criminal neglect of its infrastructure. As PG&E prioritized profits and politics, power lines went unchecked—until a rusted hook purchased for 56 cents in 1921 split in two, sparking the deadliest wildfire in California history.

Beginning with PG&E’s public reckoning after the Paradise fire, Blunt chronicles the evolution of PG&E’s shareholder base, from innovators who built some of California's first long-distance power lines to aggressive investors keen on reaping dividends. Following key players through pivotal decisions and legal battles, California Burning reveals the forces that shaped the plight of PG& deregulation and market-gaming led by Enron Corp., an unyielding push for renewable energy, and a swift increase in wildfire risk throughout the West, while regulators and lawmakers pushed their own agendas.

California Burning is a deeply reported, character-driven narrative, the story of a disaster expanding into a much bigger exploration of accountability. It’s an American tragedy that serves as a cautionary tale for utilities across the nation—especially as climate change makes aging infrastructure more vulnerable, with potentially fatal consequences.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Business, Politics, Audiobook, Environment, Science

350 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2022

Reviews

[Patrick Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been in the utility industry for nearly 15 years... from renewable energy generators, to wholesale energy sellers, to utility infrastructure modernization projects and I can say that Katherine Blunt did her research. She accurately explained a century's worth of evolution to the utility industry and explained obstacles and problems and mistakes that have been made during that time frame, and did so in a way that anyone should be able to understand. Most importantly, she was able to put a face and human stories to a situation that all too often is all about numbers.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric--and What It Means for America's Power Grid by Katherine Blunt with my husband on our road trip back from Minnesota, and I never thought I would be so interested in gas and electric. I constantly listen to my husband talk about FERC audits and other things since he works for Xcel Energy, and it was actually kinda fun listening to something that he cares about through his work. I didn't know anything about PG&E prior to listening to this book and I can't say I'm super impressed with them now that I know all the issues they created by their lack of maintenance.

You can tell a ton of research went into writing this, and I loved the way Blunt was able to turn nonfiction into more of an easy-to-understand narrative. I even found some parts downright humorous, and it doesn't surprise me she was able to win/be nominated for awards thanks to her research. I also loved the audiobook which is narrated by Nan McNamara, and it felt like it could have been the author talking to me. McNamara did a wonderful job with the narration for California Burning and I fully intend to see what else she has narrated that I want to listen to. This is never something I would pick up on my own, but I'm so glad I paid attention, and I definitely learned a lot of things along the way.

[AnnieM · Rating 5 out of 5]

"California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What It Means for America's Power Grid" is a critically important book that not only traces the history of PG&E and both the innovation and neglect of equipment that has led to multiple tragedies such as the Paradise Fire. Blunt's research is thorough and she does a great job of laying out the many missteps that ultimately caused the destruction and loss of lives and communities. Part of the challenge goes back to the privatization and deregulation of utilities (remember Enron) as well as legislative actions and inactions that allowed a repeal of a depression-era federal law that limited utilities from expanding outside geographic regions thus paving the way to mergers and acquisitions and Wall Street's interest in shareholder value. The big consultants are brought in at various times for "transformation" and Accenture said that their are low levels of gas links for PG&E compared to other utilities; what they did not point out is that the reason for this was that supervisors were rewarded/incentivized when their crews reported the fewest number of gas leaks. She also takes us to the court-rooms where municipalities and victims try to seek justice - and thanks to a California law called the "Watson Warning", PG&E could be charged again since they were already twice convicted as knowing and failing to safely maintain the pipelines and powerlines. The question remains whether public utilities should have a new ownership structure (cooperative or public utility) but that would have huge economic implications for the State of California. Until then, the hedge funds and other vultures can pick at the bones of these utilities to ensure that they are getting the EPS (Earnings Per Share) they expect - one of many examples of the cost of corporate greed.

I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and Portfolio (Penguin Group) for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katherine Blunt shared her book with me for an Insider's Guide to Energy Podcast interview during the summer of 2022. It is a fascinating read which kept me turning pages. The depth of reporting and storytelling reminds me of Beth Mclean and Peter Elkind's "The Smartest Guys in the Room".

Katherine explores how climate change, investor pressure and corporate governance come together to create an environment which resulted in the Camp Fire.

I highly recommend the book, which comes out in a few weeks. Listen to Katherine Blunt on Insider's Guide to Energy Podcast to hear the author speak about the story and writing the book.

www.insidersguidetoenergy.com

[Felipe Martinez Guimaraes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah I listened to this in 1.5 speed to complete my reading goal so what. Also I enjoyed this book corporate greed and engineering safety negligence is maddening

[Jennifer Bernauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super glad I read this all be it super depressing at many levels. Thankful to my husband Eric as we listened to this together a we paused often to discuss what we just listened or if I didn’t understand. I learned a lot. Especially around some of the utility commission roles and financial markets ( especially in the 1990s / Enron time ). Also historical remembering how many times PgE went bankrupt …

The greed and profit focus is in full display. From the San Bruno gas explosion to the Tubbs fire in Santa Rosa to the paradise fire just awful how much negligence. Driving now looking everywhere - how old do you think that PgE tower is ?

A quote from the book that stuck with me. “We didn’t change an f thing. Pray to god and evacuate “.

My questions - why did PgE suck so much in putting improvements to the grid and gas lines ? Clearly Super beholden to share holders.

But in these super dangerous fire areas why had electricity lines not been buried earlier ? Too expensive to not do this. Also this honestly is a federal crisis, we have grid issues across America. But you know PgE is just going to pass on the necessary improvements that they should have been doing all along to us as customers. Very frustrating. Just like water and other infrastructure items. Glad they got to closure on settlement with fire victims. Also feel I should knock on something since fires have not been bad this year.

[Jim French · Rating 2 out of 5]

What to say about an "important" book that is well-written, but whose subject matter is also mostly familiar and mostly pretty tedious? The first part about the history of power companies was fascinating; the account of the Camp Fire was okay, but how could it compete with PBS show about the fire, or living thru the news coverage? It couldn't. The seemingly endless bureaucratic and legal hassles over PG&E's ineptitude got tiresome.

[Ultra Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched book on the mismanagement of PG&E and how it caused some of the most devastating wildfires of recent years, along with a serious gas pipeline explosion in 2010. I'm pretty speechless, for one I don't understand how a public utility should be a money making machine, in which investors can partake. It shifts the interest from safety and provision of essential service to finances and the ever present conflict of interest and manipulation that's related to money.

[Susan Lipsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depressing because no matter what PGE does wrong the consumer pays, the execs get their bonuses, the hedge fund people make money, and the injured parties get screwed. Did PGE really fall?

[Audrey Approved · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prepare to be frustrated and/or bored if you read CALIFORNIA BURNING. This is the history of California’s biggest utility company - Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). I pay a PG&E bill every month, as do ~2/3rds of California’s residents. In the last decade PG&E has become synonymous with rising electricity costs, rolling blackouts, and wildfires. And these three things are intricately connected.

Some of the deadliest (and largest by acreage) wildfires in California history have been due to lack of maintenance of PG&E transmission lines - old equipment, dead trees and heavy winds have led to sparks falling upon dry and parched shrubbery. Blunt attempts to lay out the history, business decisions and company culture that have lead to the existence of tens of thousands of miles unmaintained, aging power lines. In particular, this book is searing condemnation of PG&E’s long history of putting investors and profits over customers. When PG&E has found itself at the end of bad business investments, financial woes, and legal liability, who bails them out? Customers do. With a higher utility bill.

While the wildfires are mentioned, this is mainly a business history, with a big focus on the last three decades. And as a business history... it's also pretty boring. PG&E has gone through two bankruptcy proceedings in that time, and the court proceedings are laid out here in all their legal glory. So is the revolving door of executives and managers. I found the first quarter of the book, covering the history of electrical distribution in California, to be my favorite section. From then on, I got pretty bored with all of the legal jargon and names.

There’s no happy ending here - and customers might never win when it comes to a for-profit public utility. While the epilogue ends with a hopeful note, there’s very little evidence to suggest that neither electric bills nor the rate of yearly wildfires will go down anytime soon.

[Eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and thorough research on the decisions PGE execs made and the incentive structures that they operated in/structured in the years leading up to the Camp Fire. The book, however, doesn’t focus on consumers except to discuss rates, and the narrative misunderstands, or perhaps just intends to misrepresent, renewable incentives in PGE as: 1) in tension with consumer-preferred rate structures, and 2) in some sort of zero-sum game with operations and maintenance that can mitigate fire risk.

[Wendy Bockholt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad I read this but am so very happy that I’m done. If I had to read another description of so and so’s hair color and length, I was going to lose my mind! Very interesting and in-depth discussion of the intrinsic problem with trying to satisfy shareholders and customers and how safety fell to the wayside. For some very strange reason, probably having to due with growing up in Northern California, I have a soft spot in my heart for pg&e. Loved the last paragraph!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not my usual read. But I’m glad I read it. As a PG&E customer it’s pretty horrifying. Do I buy PG&E stock to offset the high price of powering my house? Do the dividends compensate for that? Oh wait! We killed some people so had to suspend dividends for a few years. What a sad story.

These are complex political issues so thank you to the author for making them easily consumable. I’m so sad for the Camp fire victims. That was such an insult that they would be paid partly in stock while the debt holders got cash. How is that fair? Shouldn’t our government have fought for them and not let the hedge funds have first dibs???

I wish this book had maps! Had a lot of fun looking some up on line.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably more like 4.5, I got a little bored toward the end. But rounding up for someone writing about the topic at all. The beginning is accurate and describes a complex industry well.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I started reading this, I had two main questions that grew and grew: why did no-one raise the nationalisation of this crucial infrastructure network? And why in hell didn't they bury the power lines? It is a spoiler alert, but turns out these are not completely unrelated questions, as this book becomes more and more of a primer on why for-profit infrastructure is a terrible idea. This is the story of Pacific Gas and Electric, California's main power retailer and distributor, and the two devastating wildfires that its failing power lines ignited.
Because this is a sorry tale of woe, a power company which continues a rapid decline following deregulation in the 1990s, which leave it responsible for transmitting power but not generating it, at the mercy of a shockingly greedy Enron among others (the anecdotes of Enron execs gleefully creating artificial power shortages to push up profits amid rolling, fatal, blackouts is really something here). But mostly - Enron aside - this is not a tale of villains but of middling bureaucrats caught in an impossible situation, with a structure that prioritises dividends and capital improvement rather than the vital maintenance of the lines. Never to mention the impossibility of investing enormous expense in moving lines underground, even as the creeping pressure of climate change makes the above-ground, ancient (the 2017 fire was caused by a hook manufactured in the 1920s) lines untenable.
It is easy to have sympathy at many points for the bureaucrats. Aside from Enron and ancient lines, an absence of record management meaning maintenance is guesswork, the company is also on the wrong side of price regulation, and the USA's insane absence of public services means that the company is litigable for all damage caused by any fire started by its power line failures, even when those fires are made almost inevitable by the hot, dry and windy conditions caused by climate change. Fundamentally, the biggest issue here is that a major shift in operations is needed to keep people safe, and there is no provision for who should pay for it.
But obviously, the sympathy is for those who die in fires and blackouts, whose health and livelihood are ruined, and whose only scarce hope is to see some minuscule payout from an endless court case. PG&E has begun the process of transferring lines underground, but at a rate that is sustainable for the company, it will be many more lives between now and when that is done.

[Graham Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been doing climate & energy policy work for years and in the last year my job has focused on the operations of energy companies. So “California Burning” was a good way to combine these experiences and reevaluate news stories I was tangentially aware of over the last decade. Everyone of course has been seeing the annual coverage of California wildfires burning out of control. Katherine Blunt does a pretty great job at examining the role that Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) played in a number of those fires.

There were parts of California Burning’s coverage of the energy regulations and legal proceedings that felt a bit dry. But overall, it definitely feels more accessible than some other books I’ve read about the power grid or energy policy. Blunt does good work in charting PG&E’s rise and the corporate behavior that led to several bankruptcies and long lasting blackouts and a corporate culture that saw them neglect to maintain its transmission lines. Her writing lends itself well when she switches from the research into transmission lines and corporate culture to showing the climate and human cost of PG&E’s actions in her descriptions of the lives that were upended when the fires broke out and burned away peoples’ homes and livelihoods. It certainly can hold the reader’s interest especially if/when the more technical aspects of the book could make some people lose focus. But in general the book is well researched and very well written so that the parts readers can focus intensively on are more frequent.

Stories like PG&E’s lack of action to maintain its systems and residents near this equipment start to suffer from that neglect will become increasingly more common as the Climate Crisis worsens. Books like “California Burning” showcase the complexities of power grids and how they have to be more resilient, especially as growing electrification and clean energy projects means more transmission is needed. But the book also highlights how we need to make sure the ones generating and delivering our power place safety and resilience above profits, otherwise we’ll see others like PG&E behave just as irresponsible and infuriatingly.

[Min · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given my history working with and for utilities, this was an especially fascinating read. Blunt clearly did her research and was able to detail the regulatory and technical history of PG&E while still centering the heart of the book on the victims of the various PG&E fires. The plethora of issues leading to electrical fires should have always been a clear concern and priority for utilities (though this book has made it apparent that there’s an exception when it comes to CEOs and investors) but it’s more evident with every disaster that waiting around is not going to suddenly increase grid reliability or safety. Blunt’s book emphasizes the fact that it’s past time that we invest serious resources into modernizing and securing the grid so we can stop these tragedies before they can even occur.

[Onceinabluemoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a native CA who lost our house in 2020 and my brother in 2017 to fires, who hasn't been able to breath without a mask for the last few days due to CA'S currently largest wild fire this book is riveting and horrifying!

[Emily Serleth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for work but it was so, so good. The author breaks down the complicated utility industry so well while recognizing the victims and giving them a voice. It was more emotional than I was expecting!

[Sarah Simm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for anyone getting into the energy industry, interested in climate change, or lives in California. Katherine does a great job at summarizing complex topics and history regarding PGE. She presents all the information in an interesting and engaging way. Really important book!

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book came up at the utility professional organization I am part of and I'm so glad that I followed through on reading it.

[Patty Duarte · Rating 4 out of 5]

BEEFING BIG TIME WITH PG&E

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and engaging, including the history of the founding of PG&E and utilities in CA. At the same time, it was infuriating to learn about the company and state's negligence, and how investors were prioritized even over compensating victims.

[Revathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so good!!! No notes this time. I’m gonna need a part 2 for this book in 10 years.

[Connor Kreb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great. Readable and informative.

As the title indicates, the story of PG&E and California’s wildfires has implications for the rest of America and our electrical grids. The coming decades will bring plenty of challenges to the world’s infrastructure, as extreme weather events become increasingly common across the country and globe.

PG&E’s misguided, profit-maximizing actions in the 2000s certainly set it up for failure in the 2010s. It turned a blind eye to maintenance and improvement of its aging and dangerous system. Of course, a changing climate and historic drought didn’t help.

I think my biggest takeaway is that when it comes to critical public infrastructure there are no easy solutions. There are no shortcuts or workarounds or ways to magically reinvent things to make them safer or squeeze out more profit. It requires the design of thoughtful incentives, a relentless attention to safety, extensive and effective regulatory oversight, and serious buy-in from all of us citizens. The environmental and energy challenges facing us demand a significant increase in public education, attention, and action to make sure this isn’t the first of a series of similar stories.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written account of the complicated story of PG&E. It drug just a bit while reviewing the early history of the company but otherwise held my attention throughout. I normally don’t enjoy books dealing with corporate structure and financing but the author did a great job explaining how this all tied back into the horrible safety practices the company permitted. The sheer number of leaks, fires and explosions tied back to this one company is infuriating as well as how victims were so poorly compensated while investors were able to profit from restructuring.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly fun to nerd out about California energy politics and policies with someone other than myself and my loved ones at family holidays! Super fascinating to learn about the history here, incredible reporting

[Brahm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good electricity book! Didn't realize until now that California's big electric company, PG&E, was directly liable for damages due to fires caused by old power wires failing... And just how pervasive those two problems are. Listened to the audiobook, narration was great. Great energy/electricity read.

[Tim Wetzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I was the exact right audience for this book - I was vaguely aware of PG&E's involvement in the California fires but never quite understood the minutiae of what that involvement entailed. This book did an excellent brief summary of the history of the company, and a very well-informed deep dive into the details of the court cases and surrounding controversy. Would highly recommend to anyone in the energy sector, and also to anyone who lives in PG&E's service area; the book takes complicated industry concepts and breaks them down well without oversimplifying.

[Emily Pelstring · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing was not the strongest, but it’s still a well researched book so respect. What a mess we are in.