PG&E Plunges Into Crisis as It Faces Reckoning Over Fires
- Utility has lost about half its value since blazes began
- ‘The legislature needs to go back to the drawing board’
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California’s biggest utility was plunged into full-blown crisis by the possibility that its equipment sparked one of the catastrophic wildfires ravaging the state.
Shares of PG&E Corp. plummeted as much as 32 percent Wednesday after the company said it had exhausted its revolving credit lines, signaling it was shoring up its cash to prepare for a possible credit downgrade to junk. The utility’s filing also may have marked the start of a campaign to get bailed out by California’s lawmakers -- as it was after last year’s fires.