Trust Distributed $1.69B to PG&E California Fire Victims in 2021

Nearly $1.7 billion has been distributed to victims of California wildfires for which Pacific Gas & Electric was blamed, a new report shows.

The Fire Victim Trust has filed its annual report and claims report for the period commencing January 1, 2021 and ending on December 31, 2021 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

The trust’s audited financial statements report distributions to fire victims of $1.69 billion for the year ended Dec. 31, 2021. The trust also issued additional preliminary payments and pro rata distributions of roughly $1.81 billion between the end of the period covered by the annual report and April 29, 2022, bringing the total amount distributed to fire victims to approximately $3.5 billion.

The Trust incurred operating expenses of $93.3 million for the period ended Dec. 31, 2021, of which roughly 80%, or $75.0 million, was spent on claims processing and claims administration, which are the segments of the trust’s operations dedicated to the payment of fire victim claims.

The trust’s audited financial statements also note that, on Jan. 31, 2022, and April 14, 2022, the trust sold 40,000,000 and 60,000,000 shares of PG&E Corp. common stock, respectively, and realized aggregate net proceeds of approximately $1.2 billion in connection with these sales. The Trust continues to work closely with its financial and legal advisors in monetizing its stock holdings in a responsible manner.

As of Dec. 31, 2021, the trust had received 37,455 Claims Questionnaires from 68,870 fire victims and issued a total of 16,769 Determination Notices and Reconsideration Determination Notices to Fire Victims with aggregate awards of roughly $5.49 billion. The Trust continued its practice of distributing preliminary payments to eligible Fire Victims. In March 2021, the trust began issuing pro rata payments to eligible fire victims who had received a Determination Notice and accepted their Approved Claim Amount. The trust issued Preliminary Payments and pro rata distributions to 32,332 fire victims in the total amount of roughly $1.69 billion in 2021.

So far in 2022, as reported in the April 29, 2022 Claims Data Report, the trust has issued an additional 11,149 Determination Notices with aggregate awards of roughly $3.03 billion, bringing the total number of Determination Notices issued to 27,918 and the total value of aggregate awards to $8.52 billion.

The Fire Victim Trust evaluates, administers, processes and resolves eligible claims arising from the 2015 Butte Fire, 2017 North Bay Fires and 2018 Camp Fire. To date, trust has disbursed $3.5 billion to fire victims.

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