Posted this yesterday but baker decided to cite a fucking Wikipedia article to refute.
So, what if, just for the sake of argument, PG&E was complicit in the ACTUAL cause of the fires. If you (the cabal) were about to start several fires out of nothing (DEWs, weather mod, etc.), you would want something to quick point at as the "actual" or "realistic" cause. Even though many people can grasp the idea of DEWs and weather modification, it still sounds like star wars fan fiction to the majority so they will be happy to latch onto the "PG&E did it." story.
Now, here in Sonoma County, we have "Sonoma Clean Power" which is considered a "competitor" even though they go through the same poles, transformers, lines and meters. There are others depending on where in California you are. Different names, same basic deal. Shared utility hardware while paying for a different "source". Usually it is a "clean" source because California has turned guilt into a marketable product.
So there are several different "companies" using those lines and transformers yet PG&E is quietly accepting all responsibilities and lawsuits. It makes me think of when pharmaceutical companies put out a drug, then end up paying some class action lawsuit for a few million dollars a couple years later. I remind people that it is worth it for the pharma company to just put the drug out there for a couple years, make a cool nickel, put aside 20-30% for the inevitable class action suit, wait for the patent to expire, change the name and do it again.
I propose PG&E not only knew what was coming but actually AGREED to be the fall guy in exchange for some kind of deal on the other end of all this.