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<\/p>\nCity leaders argued that public ownership would lower costs, but the utility company has repeatedly disputed the plan, saying a takeover would increase rates.<\/p>\n
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A PG&E substation on Mission and 8th Streets in San Francisco on June 11, 2026.\u00a0(Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n
Daniel Robelo, a communications and digital organizer with Reclaim Our Power, a campaign fighting for a community and worker-owned energy system in California, said \u201ca victory in San Francisco\u201d would be a positive sign for the state\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnergy is a public good,\u201d Robelo said. \u201cUltimately, the whole state, not just San Francisco, needs to break up with PG&E and build a new utility that puts people and the planet over corporate profits.\u201d<\/p>\n
PG&E is the state\u2019s largest investor-owned utility and has faced years of criticism over its role in deadly wildfires and aging infrastructure. Calls for the city to separate from the utility intensified after a fire at a PG&E substation<\/a> in the Mission District sparked a major outage in December.<\/p>\n The city has said<\/a> leaving the utility will save residents millions \u2014 savings that will come from San Francisco having access to cheaper loans for infrastructure and not having to pay shareholder dividends, corporate taxes or executive bonuses.<\/p>\n In a statement, PG&E spokesperson Lynsey Paulo said its electric grid assets are not for sale, and a takeover \u201cwould be so expensive that it would raise San Franciscans\u2019 electric rates for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n Paulo also called the report \u201cdeficient\u201d and stated that \u201cthe project that the City described in the [report] appears to be inconsistent with the project that it described\u201d to the California Public Utilities Commission, the state\u2019s utility regulator.<\/p>\n If San Francisco did purchase the city\u2019s local electric grid from PG&E, it would need to physically separate the wires and substations that serve the city from the ones serving the rest of PG&E\u2019s territory. This construction would largely take place along the San Francisco-San Mateo border.<\/p>\n