Southern California Edison to pay the federal government and additional $80 million for expenses related to the 2017 Thomas Fire
Southern California Edison has agreed to pay the federal government $80 million to help cover expenses caused by the 2017 Thomas Fire, the Justice Department said Monday.
Federal officials called it a “record” settlement, one that would compensate taxpayers for the costs of fighting the fire and damage to public lands.
Edison previously agreed to a $1.16 billion settlement to resolve claims with insurance companies suing over the Thomas Fire and subsequent Montecito debris flows. In a downpour just weeks after the fire started, mud, boulders and trees barreled down burned hillsides into neighborhoods in Santa Barbara County. Twenty-three people were killed.
The cost of wildfires including the Thomas and Woolsey fires has increased insurance companies’ and utilities’ costs over the past seven years which, of course, gets passed on to us as residents of the area.
This article from the Ventura County Star discusses the settlement.
