---
title: "PG&E warns 25,000 customers of six-month hookup delays as its CEO predicts a bailout case from the regulator"
description: "PG&E chief executive Patti Poppe told investors she expects Assembly hearings next week and a November 1 regulator report to make the case for a special-session wildfire bailout; Consumer Watchdog, which published the transcript, calls the hookup-delay campaign \"bailout blackmail.\""
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Power"
published: 2026-10-22T23:08:52.046Z
modified: 2026-10-22T23:08:52.046Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/pg-e-warns-25-000-customers-of-six-month-hookup-delays-as-its-ceo-predicts-a-bailout-case-from-the-regulator
language: en
keywords: "PG&E, Wildfires, Utilities, California, Data Centers"
---

# PG&E warns 25,000 customers of six-month hookup delays as its CEO predicts a bailout case from the regulator

> PG&E chief executive Patti Poppe told investors she expects Assembly hearings next week and a November 1 regulator report to make the case for a special-session wildfire bailout; Consumer Watchdog, which published the transcript, calls the hookup-delay campaign "bailout blackmail."

## Hookup warnings as leverage

Connections could run six months late for 25,000 Californians while PG&E, California's largest electric utility, presses Sacramento to move wildfire costs off its books [2][1][6]. The utility, which serves about 16 million people across more than 250 cities and counties, [wrote to would-be customers](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/pg-e-warns-25000-would-be-customers-of-potential-six-month-delays-in-getting-electricity/ar-AA2fLrQN) this week that hookups could slip as much as six months while it [postpones about $2 billion of planned 2027 spending](https://theinference.org/article/pg-e-blacked-out-85-000-customers-as-its-2-billion-cut-slows-new-homes-renewables-and-data-centers) [2][1][6]. Data centers and more than 60 renewable and battery-storage projects wait in the same queue, some for up to a year [1][2].

## The chief executive predicted her regulator's report

On Thursday's earnings call, Patti Poppe, [PG&E](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/pg-e-corporation)'s chief executive, said two Assembly hearings next week and a November 1 report from the California Public Utilities Commission, the regulator that sets PG&E's allowed profit, "will be another good case in why the status quo is unacceptable," adding that the commission asked "really meaningful questions in their discovery" [3].

Consumer Watchdog, the consumer-advocacy nonprofit that [published the transcript](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/pg-e-ceo-tells-investors-182900071.html), calls the campaign "bailout blackmail" [3]. A last-minute deal Governor Gavin Newsom pushed at the end of the legislative session drew heavy criticism from assembly members. It was "ultimately not voted on by the Legislature" [2]. Jamie Court, the group's president, wants the commission policing PG&E, not building its case; the group asked it weeks ago to test whether ratepayers had already funded the deferred work and says no answer came [3].

## The stock repriced the risk; the earnings never did

The fight is over who owns wildfire liability when the next fire comes. On August 31, after lawmakers [passed a wildfire bill without the $6 billion per-incident cap on wildfire-fund withdrawals](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/08/31/pge-sinks-18-edison-international-tumbles-23-as-california-wildfire-bill-omits-liability-cap/) the utilities wanted, the listed parent, PG&E Corporation (PCG), fell 18% in a day; [Edison International](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/edison-international) fell 23%; the sector's ETF slipped 1% [4].

*Chart: **The day the liability cap died, only California's utilities repriced** Bar chart of one-day share-price moves on August 31, 2026: PG&E down 18%, Edison International down 23%, Sempra down 2%, utilities sector ETF down 1%.*

*One-day share-price moves, August 31, 2026, the session after California lawmakers passed a wildfire bill without the utilities' requested cap. Source: 24/7 Wall St. [4]*

The earnings never stopped: net income was positive in every quarter since late 2024, $2.7 billion in 2025, and $749 million of GAAP income available for common shareholders in the quarter reported Thursday, with 2026 guidance reaffirmed at $1.64–$1.66 a share [5][6].

*Chart: **PG&E earned money every quarter of the liability fight** Column chart of PG&E Corporation quarterly net income from Q3 2024 to Q2 2026, between roughly $0.55 billion and $0.89 billion every quarter.*

*GAAP net income by quarter, US$ billions. Source: PG&E Corporation SEC filings. [5]*

## Ratepayers already carry a $9 billion share

Consumer Watchdog counts more than $10 billion of 2025 profit across the state's three big for-profit utilities and more than $3 billion in dividends [3]. It also cites a commission-authorized return on equity of 9.98% for PG&E through 2028, which the group says already pays investors to carry exactly this risk [3]. Ratepayers carry their own share: wildfire costs inside electric bills ran about $500 million in 2019 and $9 billion in 2024, the largest single piece of the bill, per the Public Advocates Office, the commission's independent consumer arm [7].

## The utility's case is real, and so are the dates

PG&E's argument has substance: California courts hold utilities liable for fires their equipment starts even when every rule was followed, and the company has agreed to pay at least $11 billion over the 2017 and 2018 fires [2]. By its own account, wildfire risk has added more than $4 billion in interest costs that customers ultimately pay, and it says it is delaying no safety work, only shielding existing customers from higher rates [2][1].

Newsom, who must leave office in January, [ordered the November 1 report](https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article317642637.html) on what credit-rating downgrades would cost the utilities [2][7]. The Senate has scheduled nothing [3]. If it stays home, shareholders keep the liability; if it convenes, ratepayers take it back. The report lands in ten days, and PG&E names the delayed projects in December [2].

## Takeaway

PG&E is using six-month hookup delays for 25,000 customers, plus stalled data centers and renewable projects, as leverage for a Sacramento bailout of wildfire liability; the regulator's report lands November 1.

## Sources

1. [NBC Bay Area (via MSN), PG&E warns 25,000 would-be customers of potential six-month delays in getting electricity, 21 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/pg-e-warns-25000-would-be-customers-of-potential-six-month-delays-in-getting-electricity/ar-AA2fLrQN)
2. [The Sacramento Bee, After utility wildfire fight, PG&E may delay renewable projects up to a year, 16 October 2026](https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article317642637.html)
3. [Consumer Watchdog press release via PR Newswire and Yahoo Finance, PG&E CEO Tells Investors Company Is Coordinating With Public Utilities Commission & Assembly, 22 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/pg-e-ceo-tells-investors-182900071.html)
4. [24/7 Wall St, PG&E Sinks 18%, Edison International Tumbles 23% as California Wildfire Bill Omits Liability Cap, 31 August 2026](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/08/31/pge-sinks-18-edison-international-tumbles-23-as-california-wildfire-bill-omits-liability-cap/)
5. [PG&E Corporation, quarterly net income from its SEC filings, retrieved 22 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001004980)
6. [Fintel News (via MSN), PG&E Corporation reports third quarter 2026 financial results and reaffirms guidance, 22 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/pg-e-corporation-reports-third-quarter-2026-financial-results-and-reaffirms-guidance/ar-AA2fOCUU)
7. [The Sacramento Bee (via MSN), Utility leader urges CA lawmakers to find 'durable' solution on wildfire liability, 21 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/utility-leader-urges-ca-lawmakers-to-find-durable-solution-on-wildfire-liability/ar-AA2fKyEZ)


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PG&E warns 25,000 customers of six-month hookup delays as its CEO predicts a bailout case from the regulator — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/pg-e-warns-25-000-customers-of-six-month-hookup-delays-as-its-ceo-predicts-a-bailout-case-from-the-regulator