CAISO participants and companies that do business with Pacific Gas and Electric could end up paying a hefty price for the utility’s financial collapse.

PG&E Corp. and its subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric will file for federal bankruptcy protection by Jan. 29, the companies announced.

Concern about Pacific Gas and Electric’s financial meltdown has spread as CAISO addressed worries about the utility’s potential to default on its payments.

The California PUC began implementing wildfire cost recovery provisions, as protesters argued against any effort to bailout PG&E for the deadly wildfires.

PG&E’s stock price sank lower Monday and Tuesday, dropping by more than 30% due to fears the company could go bankrupt or be broken up by the state.

After the deadliest wildfire in California history, PG&E is facing intense scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators and a federal judge.

CAISO will tackle its new role as reliability coordinator in 2019, and California lawmakers will struggle with preventing wildfires sparked by power lines.

PG&E reported additional problems with its transmission lines prior to the Camp Fire and asked state regulators to approve a more than $1 billion rate hike.

The California Public Utilities Commission voted to examine its rules allowing utilities to de-energize power lines in cases of wildfire conditions.

California and Illinois won the top spots on the GridWise Alliance Grid Modernization Index, the group announced at the gridConnext 2018 conference.