(Reuters) – The United States will offer a record $15 billion low-interest loan to California-based utility PG&E to support climate resilience projects and upgrade the electrical grid, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
PG&E Corp is the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, one of the largest U.S. utility providers serving about 16 million people across northern and central California.
The loan by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office will be used to fund projects that refurbish PG&E’s hydroelectric infrastructure and power lines and will be provided in cash installments over several years, the report added.
Earlier this month, PG&E said it planned to raise $2.4 billion from investors via a stock offering.
U.S. utilities have been making stock offerings and filing rate case requests to fund their infrastructure upgrades as the country’s power grids face extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes and wildfires, and surging demand from industrial customers like data centers.
The Department of Energy as well as the company did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
(Reporting by Bipasha Dey and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
