Fires giving utilities vast new powers

From the ashes of last year’s huge fires in Butte, Shasta, Lake and Los Angeles counties, this state’s utilities have suddenly acquired vast new powers to control and influence the lives of millions of Californians.
The new reality is that no one living near a potential fire area – and that includes wide swaths of this state – now can be sure when the lights will go off and come back on.
It’s all because California’s big utility companies have accepted blame f