Fire air operations drop water on flames from the Palisades Fire, along Mandeville Canyon in the Brentwood community of Los Angeles, California, on January 11, 2025. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin/Getty Images California’s wildfires are growing more destructive and more expensive each year. As these costs rise, a crisis is unfolding over who pays for wildfire risk—and when. Today’s approach is neither equitable nor effective, and it is harming household budgets and making it harder to fight climate pollution. For the last decade, Californians have paid to prevent wildfires and rebuild after them through their electricity bills. This stems from court decisions that hold utilities financially responsible for wildfire damage involving their equipment, even when the utilities’ actions did not cause the fire. This approach hits some households harder than others. Electricity rates are regressive because lower-income households living in inland areas pay a disproportionate share of wildfire costs.…