Buffett’s Oregon Fire Costs Grow as He Sours on Utilities
- PacifiCorp unit hit with another $29.3 million in damages
- Case was latest in assessing utility’s liability to homeowners
A PacifiCorp power plant outside Huntington, Utah.
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Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s PacifiCorp was hit with at least another $29.3 million in damages for Oregon’s 2020 Labor Day fires, the latest blow for the company after Chairman Warren Buffett recently warned that he no longer views investments in western US utilities as safe.
Tuesday’s verdict in Portland state court was one of the “mini-trials” designed to assess how much the largest grid operator in the western US ultimately will have to pay owners of about 2,500 properties destroyed in a series of blazes blamed on power lines knocked down by strong winds. The award for actual damages and emotional distress to 10 fire victims follows about $175 million previously ordered for 26 victims.