A PG&E substation fire knocked out power for 130,000 San Francisco customers, reviving State Senator Scott Wiener's push for a city-owned utility. California already has 40 public utilities, though building one would cost billions. The question now is whether San Francisco breaks from PG&E or stays put.
San Francisco and PG&E might be on the verge of a breakup. After a fire broke out last month at a PG&E substation in Soma, causing 130,000 customers and businesses to lose power, State Senator Scott Wiener revived a push to have a publicly owned utility in San Francisco instead of an investor-owned one, claiming that for too long PG&E has placed shareholder value over customer safety. Something like this would cost billions of dollars and likely be financed with new bonds, and while it sounds lofty, and it definitely is, there is precedent for this in other parts of California. There are around 40 40 publicly owned utilities throughout the state. We'll see what new legislation gets introduced this year and whether a publicly owned utility becomes a reality in San Francisco. Would love to hear what you think. Should SF be its own power distributor or should we keep a relationship with PG&E?
