Street Calls of the Week
Investing.com -- Fitch Ratings has upgraded PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) and Pacific Gas and Electric Company to investment grade ’BBB-’ from ’BB+’, with a stable outlook.
The upgrade reflects the company’s progress in reducing wildfire risk and the recent enactment of California’s Senate Bill 254, which creates an $18 billion continuation account to fund catastrophic wildfire liabilities for participating utilities.
The new fund will supplement the existing $21 billion Assembly Bill 1054 fund established in 2019, providing additional liquidity to address potential claims from the Eaton Fire in Southern California earlier this year.
Fitch views the new legislation as a "potentially significant policy shift" by California lawmakers, recognizing that extending the AB 1054 wildfire fund alone would be insufficient to address impacts from wildfire activity.
The law requires the wildfire fund administrator to conduct a study and submit findings to the legislature by April 1, 2026, exploring new models to allocate wildfire and catastrophe burdens. Fitch warned that failure to implement improved solutions in the next legislative session would be considered credit negative.
While the upgrade reflects positive developments, Fitch noted that the Eaton Fire represents a setback following lower destruction from utility-related wildfires during 2019-2024 compared to 2017-2018.
PG&E’s financial metrics have improved, with funds from operations leverage improving to 4.6x in 2024 from 6.9x in 2023. Fitch estimates this metric will be approximately 4.8x and 4.6x for 2025 and 2026, respectively.
The company filed its 2027-2030 general rate case with the California Public Utilities Commission in May, requesting a test year revenue increase of around $1.3 billion. In March, PG&E filed to increase its authorized return on equity to 11.30% from 10.28%, which would increase rates by $546 million or 3.7% if approved.
Fitch compared PG&E with peers Edison International (NYSE:EIX), Sempra (NYSE:SRE), and Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL), noting that PG&E’s projected leverage is comparable to its higher-rated peers.
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