Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has announced the completion and activation of 1,000 miles of underground powerlines in areas identified as high risk for wildfires. The company describes this project as the largest undergrounding effort by a utility aimed at reducing wildfire threats. PG&E reports that placing these lines underground nearly eliminates wildfire risk in those locations.
The company’s broader system hardening strategy, which includes not only undergrounding but also stronger overhead poles, wires, and line removals, has led to an 8.4% reduction in wildfire ignition risk across its entire network since 2023.
Peter Kenny, PG&E’s senior vice president of Electric Operations, commented on the achievement: “Putting 1,000 miles of powerlines underground is a significant milestone for our customers as we work to reduce wildfire risk every day,” he said. “When our CEO, Patti Poppe, announced in 2021 that we would put thousands of miles of powerlines underground, skeptics said it couldn’t be done. Well, not only are we at 1,000 miles and counting, but we also have substantially reduced the cost for our customers as we’ve scaled up our work.”
Currently, these underground lines serve customers across 27 counties in Northern and Central California. For example, Butte County now has 337 miles and Shasta County has 119 miles of buried lines; other counties such as El Dorado, Lake, Placer, Plumas and Solano each have more than 50 miles.
PG&E projects that by the end of 2026 it will have placed a total of 1,600 miles of powerlines underground. This expansion is expected to result in an overall wildfire risk reduction of about 18% across its system.
Since starting the program, PG&E says it has lowered the average cost per mile for undergrounding from $4 million to $3.1 million in 2025 through various innovations. The company expects further cost reductions going forward.
Matt Pender, vice president of Undergrounding and System Hardening at PG&E stated: “It feels amazing to be making a difference that will last for many, many years, for decades, by putting these lines underground and reducing wildfire risk for the long run.”
PG&E employs several layers of safety measures designed to prevent wildfires from its equipment—measures credited with preventing major fires during both 2023 and 2024.
A report from Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment recognized PG&E among top U.S. utilities for wildfire readiness. The same report gave PG&E’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan a Tier 1 maturity rating—the highest possible score.
More information about PG&E’s efforts can be found at https://www.pge.com/wildfiresafetyprogess or through their main website https://www.pge.com/news.
