# Pacific Gas and Electric > [!note] Stub — fill out California's largest investor-owned utility. Subject of the landmark Hinkley groundwater case (Hexavalent Chromium contamination from compressor-station cooling water), settled for $333 million in 1996 and dramatized in *Erin Brockovich*. Later notorious for the San Bruno gas-pipeline explosion (2010) and for wildfire-ignition liability (Camp Fire 2018) that drove it into bankruptcy. A recurring case study in utility deregulation, regulatory accountability, and corporate criminal liability. Expand with the Hinkley settlement, the wildfire bankruptcy, and the safety-culture findings.