Warren Buffett-Owned Energy Company Facing Fines Over 2020 Wildfire: Here's How Much The Fines Could Be

A jury in Oregon has ruled on damages against an energy company related to wildfires in the state in 2020. Here’s the company's link to Warren Buffett and more on the potential fines.

What Happened: Electric utility company PacifiCorp was found liable for damages related to September 2020 wildfires. The company is among the holdings of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B), the conglomerate led by legendary investor Warren Buffett.

A jury announced an award of $70 million to 17 homeowners who were plaintiffs in a case against PacifiCorp, as reported by the Associated Press.

A case that could include the owners of 2,500 homes could bring additional damages that could total billions of dollars according to the report.

PacifiCorp was accused of failing to shut off power to 600,000 customers during a windstorm that resulted in multiple fires caused by power lines. The failure came despite warnings from then-Oregon Gov. Kate Brown.

The fires were some of the worst in the history of the state, killing nine people and destroying over 5,000 homes.

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Why It’s Important: PacifiCorp was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2006 for $9.4 billion. The company became part of the MidAmerican segment of Berkshire, which is now known as Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

The electric utility is one of the largest in the West and covers the states of California, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming with Utah and Oregon as its largest territories.

Berkshire Hathaway said it plans to appeal the latest ruling.

“We are disappointed in and disagree with the jury’s decision in this case,” the company said.

Additional damages were determined to be one-quarter of the eventual awards for property damage and emotional distress, which could take the total fines to hundreds of millions of dollars or billions of dollars.

An attorney of PacifiCorp said punitive damages were unwarranted and added that the company could face bankruptcy if damages exceed its $10.7 billion company value.

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Photo: Shutterstock; Buffett, Courtesy White House