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Pacific Gas & Electric reached two settlements for a combined $55.25 million with the District Attorneys of the five counties impacted by last year’s massive Dixie Fire and with Sonoma County's head lawyer for the 2019 Kincaid Fire.

None of the money in the two settlements is to come from ratepayers, according to the settlements and PG&E’s April 11 Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The agreements, announced Monday, also include five years of utility oversight in all six counties by an independent safety monitor, who will regularly report on the company’s progress.

“The most important part” of the settlements is the five years of safety oversight, Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch said during a Monday press conference. She said the discontinuation of oversight by the federal court, which had PG&E on probation following the 2009 San Bruno gas line blast that killed nine people, made it more critical.

Patti Poppe, PG&E Corporation's chief executive officer, said the utility and parent company “are committed to doing our part, and we look forward to a long partnership with these communities to make it right and make it safe.” She added in her statement that they “welcome the new level of transparency and accountability afforded by these agreements, and look forward to working together for the benefit of the communities we collectively serve.”

PG&E agreed to pay $35 million under a deal reached with the head attorneys of Plumas, Lassen, Tehama, Shasta, and Butte counties, who launched a civil suit against the utility last October for the Dixie Fire. It started July 22, 2021, and burned until Oct. 29, scorching almost 92,000 acres, and destroying 763 homes and 548 other structures.

The funds are to go to local charities and organizations that dealt with the fallout of the fire, and for penalties and costs of the DAs’ investigations.

PG&E also agreed to underground 400 miles of power lines across the counties. It had committed to burying 10,000 miles of overhead lines in high fire-threat areas after the Dixie Fire started.

The agreement with Sonoma County for the Kincaid Fire is for $20.25 million in exchange for dropping criminal charges brought against PG&E. The charges were filed in November 2020 following the torching of 78,000 acres and the burning of 384 buildings.

“PG&E is buying their way out of criminal prosecution,” Will Abrams, a fire victim who was very involved in the PG&E bankruptcy proceeding, told the county counsels during the press briefing. He said he was concerned that the fire victims were sacrificed for “short-term dollars.”

Ravitch replied she was one of the fire victims. “We have all been victims of wildfires over the years and I am cognizant of that,” she added.

Not settling could have led to many years of litigation, Ravitch added.

She said she wondered why California’s Attorney General has not gotten involved in the litigation stemming from PG&E’s equipment sparking wildfires. That includes in lawsuits filed following the Kincaid and disastrous Paradise Fire, which left 85 dead, with both blazes started by decades-old and worn-out hooks on utility transmission towers.

Attorney Matt Cheever, Sonoma deputy district attorney, noted that state legislation to increase criminal penalties for vegetation mismanagement and allow the state to keep PG&E on probation failed to advance.

Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett said she “fully supports" this joint settlement, but pointed out her county’s criminal case against PG&E for igniting the Zogg Fire, which killed four people, is going forward.

Under the settlements, PG&E will:

Add at least 160 new positions, with half serving Sonoma County and the other half the five Northern California counties. Offer $400 per square foot for homes destroyed, or $240,000 for mobile homes destroyed. Offer $140 per square foot for contents of rental residences destroyed; Offer $150,000 for contents of mobile homes destroyed; Establish a training program for tree crew and line inspectors at Feather River College; and Consult with the counties on its Public Safety Power Shutoffs in their areas.