Firebaugh is in Fresno County, the heart of the San Joaquin Valley farm country.

It has 8,108 residents and a median household income of $36,667. Roughly 30 percent live below the poverty line.

Vacaville is in Solano County, midway between San Francisco and Sacramento.

It has 103,078 residents and a median household income of $97,683. Roughly 7 percent live below the poverty line.

Both communities are serviced by PG&E.

Solano County’s rural areas are more prone for destructive wildfires. That’s thanks to rolling terrain and strong winds blowing through the Carquinez Strait.

Fresno County’s rural areas on the valley floor are not prone to destructive wildfires.  

Should those living in Firebaugh pay at least $38.73 more a month via PG&E billings to reduce the fire risk for Vacaville?

It is a burning question that has moral as much as financial consequences.

And rest assured it is a question that the California Public Utilities Commission is not likely to ask today when  PG&E — that had a gross profit of $17.2 billion last fiscal year — makes its pitch for ratepayers to foot the bill for their plan to bury 10,000 miles of power lines.

The for-profit corporation that has copped to 84 manslaughter charges for killing 84 people and destroying over 15,000 homes in Paradise when antiquated and improperly maintained above ground equipment that they received rate hikes year after year to repair finally failed, wants to reduce its financial risk.

That’s not what they say, though.

They contend it is all about reducing wildfire risk.

It’s a matter of spin.

But what they don’t tell you is this: For every additional $38.73 they collect from a household each month to bury power lines PG&E will earn another $4.40 plus in profit — guaranteed.

That’s because the pact California’s regulators made with the devil nearly a century ago assures them of roughly a 12 percent return — read that profit — on every $1 they are allowed in rate hikes.

PG&E says it is now costing north of $3 million for every mile of power lines they bury.

That’s around $30 billion for 10,000 miles.

It translates into a return of roughly $3.2 billion.

Not a bad gig, right?

But let’s not forget this is the same company that was jealous of Enron getting returns twice of what they were getting. In their bid to emulate Enron, it sent PG&E into their first bankruptcy in 2001 that ratepayers had the honor of bailing them out with higher rate increases.

PG&E is all about climate change today.

And why not?

It detracts from the fact PG&E for decades sought and got increased rates approved by the California Public Utilities Commission for power pole replacement and vegetation maintenance, but then managed to divert a good chunk of it to benefit Wall Street hedge funds and occupants of its own executive suites.

 At one  point, they even asked for money to replace specific power poles that they’d been granted a rate increase to replace years prior.

De-energizing power lines when red flag conditions develop has drastically reduced wildfires in PG&E territory since 2018 when they almost wiped Paradise off the face of the earth.

It may be inconvenient for customers who chose to live in high risk wildfires areas such as near Clear Lake up deep in thickly wooded foothills prone to high winds and dry conditions.

But then they chose to live with the risk.

De-energizing power lines also doesn’t do wonders for PG&E’s bottom line. Not only do they not collect money for electricity they can’t deliver when the power is cut off but is costs them money to inspect the lines to make sure it is OK to re-energize them.

The move to bury 10,000 miles of distribution lines  gives PG&E the golden opportunity to profit from years of inept maintenance that led to acts they even had to concede were elevated to the level of being criminal.

And let’s not forget: PG&E only got a conscience not just after settlements from the 2018 wildfires pushed them into bankruptcy for a second time, but when Gov. Gavin Newsom was making sounds like he actually might have the political backbone to break up the monopoly by expanding — or creating — more government agencies like the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

For the record, SMUD has never been hauled into criminal court for the wanton disregard of life and dereliction of basic corporate responsibility while they deliver power rates that are on the average 50 percent lower than PG&E.

All burying the lines does is line PG&E pockets and give it another “life” to find ways to make an even bigger run at siphoning even more money out of the pockets of hostages that they quaintly refer as ratepayers.

If PG&E CEO Patti Poppe believes the drivel she is uttering about the company that has made her personally $61 million richer during the past two years having a “moral obligation ” to reduce wildfire risk, maybe she can whip out her checkbook and help the cause with a $30 million donation.

This is the CEO who says she wears a lady bug pin on her shirt every day to remind her of 8 year-old Feyla McLeod, who died in the Paradise fire, that PG&E’s equipment failure started.

She pointed that out, of course, so she could tell an Associated Press reporter “every day I’m recommitting that from happening again.”

If that’s true, you’d think she’d at least propose a rate increase that eliminates any possibility for profiting from the life of an 8 year-old girl and 83 others.

But that’s not the bottom line of why Poppe applied for the CEO job.

And that’s not the reason why the PG&E board hired her.

It isn’t just about saving PG&E from itself.

It was about making PG&E as profitable as possible.

It’s the No. 1 duty a CEO has to stockholders — especially those that aggregate a lot of money such as Wall Street hedge funds as opposed to the little guy investors.

It’s the way of the corporate world.

That said, it’s not the world of Paul Lau.

Lau doesn’t not wear a lady bug pin to remind him that his “company” burned a little girl to death.

Lau earns $380,000 a year as CEO of SMUD that delivers affordable power to 1.5 million customers.

The real long-term solution is to de-energize PG&E.

But that would require more than lapdogs at the CPUC, a California Legislature with attention spans shorter than a hummingbird and not worried about campaign contributions, as well as having a governor who treats PG&E for what it is — an ongoing threat to the economic well-being of 16 million Californians.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com