Two California utilities lost a fifth of their value in a week

Edison International closed at $56.77 on September 4, 2026, 19.1% lower than a week earlier and 29.4% below its 52-week high. PG&E closed at $14.30, 13.9% lower on the week and 25.2% below its high. Most of both moves came on Monday, August 31, when Edison fell 23.1% and PG&E 20.1% in a single session after an amended wildfire-liability bill, SB 492, was published. The Assembly let the bill die on September 1, and on September 2 PG&E announced a strategic review and deferred about $2 billion of its 2027 capital spending.

Sempra, the state’s third large utility, fell 0.3% over the same five sessions. That is the detail that makes this a policy chart rather than a sector one: the market repriced two companies whose wildfire exposure runs through a state liability fund and left the third alone. The bill is dead for now. What the two stocks are pricing is the probability it comes back in a form the fund cannot absorb, and that is a legislative calendar rather than a financial one.