Utilities' Phony "Wildfire Victims First" Coalition Trots Out Utility-Paid Spokespeople to Push Wildfire Bailout, Says Consumer Watchdog

Utility disclosures show the building industry associations and CMTA received a combined $604,757 from PG&E, Edison, SDG&E and SoCalGas from 2023 through 2025. The bulk of that, $487,897, went to California Building Industry Association and its local affiliates from 2023 through 2025 with all four for-profit utilities contributing. The statewide California Building Industry Association alone received $415,000, including $375,000 from PG&E.

The California Manufacturers & Technology Association received another $116,850 from Edison, SDG&E and SoCalGas during the same three-year period. Edison accounted for $82,200 of that funding.

IBEW Local 1245, meanwhile, is directly connected to one of the organizations funding Wildfire Victims First. The coalition lists the California Electric Utility Industry Labor-Management Cooperation Committee among its funders. That organization was founded as a partnership between PG&E and IBEW Local 1245 and this year sponsored a political committee together with PG&E Corporation and IBEW Local 1245.

That political committee(opens in new tab) became one of the biggest spenders(opens in new tab) of the 2026 gubernatorial primary, with PG&E contributing $13.575 million and IBEW Local 1245 contributing $150,000. “This is the utility disinformation echo chamber operating exactly as designed,” said Alexandra Nagy, Organizing Director of Consumer Watchdog. “The utilities bankroll Wildfire Victims First, they give money to organizations inside its coalition, and then those organizations are presented to the public as independent community voices making the case for legislation that would bailout the utilities at the public’s expense. Meanwhile, when reporters ask the utilities themselves about the bailout, they point them to Wildfire Victims First. No matter how many layers they put between themselves and the message, the money keeps leading back to the utilities.”

Wildfire Victims First is itself funded entirely by utility-connected entities. Its website identifies its funders as Powering Progress, an Edison-backed initiative; BRIDGE, which is funded by PG&E Corporation; the California Electric Utility Industry Labor-Management Cooperation Committee; and PG&E, SDG&E and Southern California Edison shareholders.

The campaign is led publicly by Nathan Click, Governor Newsom’s former communications director, even as the coalition presses lawmakers to approve a wildfire framework being negotiated by Newsom and legislative leaders before the Legislature adjourns.

The latest press release illustrates a broader pattern documented(opens in new tab) by Consumer Watchdog. Consumer Watchdog’s review of utility disclosure reports found that 142 of the 214 organizations in the Wildfire Victims First coalition — 66% — received a combined $7.3 million from PG&E, Edison, SDG&E and SoCalGas from 2023 through 2025.

“Wildfire Victims First has no credibility left to trade on,” said Nagy. “A utility-funded campaign cannot manufacture independence by putting utility-funded organizations behind the microphone.”

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog