California's largest utility filed for bankruptcy in January last year, citing more than $30 billion in potential liabilities after its equipment sparked some of the deadliest wildfires in the state.

The company in June pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from a devastating 2018 wildfire in Northern California touched off by its power lines.

Poppe, who will take over from interim CEO William Smith on Jan. 4, was most recently the CEO of Michigan utility CMS Energy .

(Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)