The City of Rocklin has issued a letter in support of the City and County of San Francisco

December 1, 2022

Honorable Commissioners
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102

Re: Letter of Support for File # P2107012 Petition of the City and County of San Francisco for a Valuation of Certain Pacific Gas & Electric Company Property Pursuant to Public Utilities Code Sections 1401-1421

Dear President Busching Reynolds,

The City of Rocklin is writing in support of the City and County of San Francisco’s petition asking the California Public Utilities Commission to set a price for Pacific Gas & Electric’s assets in the City of San Francisco to facilitate their move to an electric utility that will be publicly owned.

PG&E’s refusal to participate in valuation discussions with the City and County of San Francisco mirrors struggles other municipalities have when attempting to have discussions with PG&E. This refusal to provide information to municipalities harms residents and prevents local governments from making informed decisions about the services they provide. Local governments are best situated to make decisions that impact their residents. This case before you will set a standard for PG&E to comply with local governments’ requests for information.

Rocklin and other municipalities have explored what it would take to shift from an investor-owned utility to a municipal-owned utility. Unfortunately, what should be a clear path that would fairly compensate PG&E and control their own power destiny is not clear at all. PG&E has used every tool to delay and stop government entities from making the switch. The South San Joaquin Irrigation District and the City and County of San Francisco have been the most persistent in their efforts to make the switch. And yet, despite years of trying and legal bills mounting in the tens of millions of dollars, neither entity has been successful in making the switch.

In the summer of 2020, the Rocklin City Council directed a two-person committee and staff to advocate on behalf of the city to state, federal and other parties to create a clear process should a municipality like Rocklin want to pay fair compensation to PG&E. San Francisco’s case before the CPUC is an opportunity for the CPUC to set a precedent that will be fair for communities seeking to shift to a municipal utility, PG&E as a corporation, and PG&E ratepayers.

For these reasons, the City of Rocklin supports the efforts of the City and County of San Francisco and respectfully requests that the Commission provide a valuation of the PG&E assets in question so they may move forward with their purchase of the assets.

Sincerely,

Bill Halldin
Mayor
City of Rocklin

Download the PDF version of the letter here.