Pacific Gas & Electric is a regulated electric and natural gas utility serving customers across Northern and Central California, generating and delivering power under rates approved by state utility regulators. As a regulated utility, its earnings are tied to a rate of return approved by regulators on the capital it invests in power plants, transmission lines and grid infrastructure, though the company has also faced significant liabilities tied to wildfires that its equipment was found to have caused in past years. Those wildfire liabilities pushed the company into bankruptcy in 2019, and PG&E has since invested heavily in grid hardening, equipment inspections and vegetation management to reduce wildfire risk going forward. California's wildfire risk, driven partly by dry conditions and aging infrastructure in areas near forests, makes PG&E's operating environment considerably riskier than utilities serving regions without similar wildfire exposure.