Financial Times: 49RBMPR

I'm gifting the article so the first three of you that click on it can see it. Anyway, the article echo's something I said the other day which is that Warren was telegraphing his line in the sand....

"one read of Buffett's letter is they're not going put money into utilities besides the ones they own and potentially cause PacifiCorp be turned over to the public or be put into bankruptcy," one utility verteran said, highlighting "a little bit of nastiness underlying the letter".

The person added: "Part of this letter is a negotiation with regulators and other stakeholders around wildfire issues, including plantiff lawyers."

I think it was a good idea to get this out in a platform as high profile as the AR. This issue is going to be a pain for a while and we're not going to know the full result of damage for a long time. Warren's at least providing a playbook for how the industry in general should handle it. Regulators will be in a tough position as well. Utilities are a public need, they cannot ignore private industry's issues regarding climate change and risk companies just throwing their hands up in the air, halting investments or getting out of the business altogether. I realise it's fair to assume government will be bureaucratic but they will definitely feel the pressure as well if the entire industry is facing the same thing.