Interesting. That article didn’t explain the relationship between wildfires and power costs, so I did some digging. California is unique in that it uses a legal doctrine called “inverse condemnation.” This means utilities are strictly liable for wildfire damage caused by their equipment - even if they weren’t negligent.

This leads to tens of billions of dollars in extra costs for the utility companies in the state. California essentially passes on the cost of the wildfires to consumers in their electricity prices. This is unique to the California and not a factor in other states.