PG&E Pays a Million a Day for America’s Biggest Utility Bust

Little things add up fast in the bankruptcy of PG&E Corp.

A six-minute phone call by a senior attorney costs the power company $102, filings show. A late dinner for a lone consultant at a San Francisco Starbucks is $50, please, and a month’s worth of copying and printing adds $6,944.80. Actual litigation? That’ll be $554,811, just for June at one firm. And preparing a bill for the court adds another $35,015.

All told, fees and related expenses for lawyers, bankers and restructuring experts advising PG&E and its creditors burned up about $140 million since the company went bust in ...