SF Lawmakers Advance Plan to Break from PG&E
San Francisco lawmakers are moving forward with efforts to allow the city to break away from utility provider Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). The push for energy independence has intensified following a series of major blackouts. The goal is for the city to control its own energy supply and improve infrastructure resilience.
- The current legislative push is being led by State Senator Scott Wiener, who introduced Senate Bill 875 to create a clearer and more fair process for cities like San Francisco to buy a utility's assets through eminent domain. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has also indicated it will introduce a resolution to support the bill. - This is not a new endeavor; San Francisco's efforts to establish a municipal public power system are rooted in the federal Raker Act of 1913, which permitted the city to build the Hetch Hetchy water and power system with the condition that it would serve as the foundation for a public power system. - In 2019, the city offered to purchase PG&E's local power grid for $2.5 billion, an offer the utility rejected, stating the price was too low. San Francisco filed a petition with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in 2021 to determine a valuation for the assets, a process that is still ongoing. - PG&E opposes the plan, arguing that a city takeover would ultimately increase costs for customers. The utility claims that besides the purchase price, the city would also have to pay to rebuild parts of the system after separating from the larger grid and cover its share of costs for programs like wildfire mitigation, which could then be shifted to remaining PG&E customers. - Through the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), the city already supplies over 75% of the electricity consumed within its borders via two programs: Hetch Hetchy Power and CleanPowerSF. However, PG&E still owns and operates the transmission and distribution infrastructure that delivers this power to residents and businesses. - The renewed push by lawmakers follows a series of significant power outages in December that left thousands of residents in the dark, amplifying long-held frustrations with the utility's reliability and high rates.
