PG&E pegs San Francisco public grid takeover at $22.5B

· Energy · United States

Pacific Gas and Electric Company has responded to the City and County of San Francisco's petition to take over the local electric grid, putting a $22.5 billion price tag on the proposal. The utility's filing is its formal rebuttal to the city's push for municipal control of distribution infrastructure serving San Francisco. Municipalization fights of this kind hinge on valuation of assets, stranded costs and reliability obligations, and the gap between the city's and the utility's numbers will frame the proceeding. PG&E is one of the largest US investor-owned utilities, and the case is being watched as a test of whether a major city can take over an incumbent's grid.

Why it matters：A multi-billion-dollar municipalization fight in a major US city will set a precedent for how far cities can go in taking distribution grids away from investor-owned utilities.

Key points

  • The figure comes in PG&E's response to San Francisco's takeover petition.
  • The dispute concerns control of the city's electric distribution grid.
  • PG&E is one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the US.

Sources (original reporting)

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