CITY OFFICIALS CALL ON PG&E TO RESPOND TO RECENT OUTAGES, ALLOW PUBLIC POWER ACQUISITION TO MOVE FORWARD
Letter to PG&E submitted this week requests explanation for lack of “timely information” on a range of recent power outages — highlights opportunity for PG&E to reconsider City’s offer to acquire local grid
Signatories include Mayor London Breed, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, City Attorney David Chiu, and SFPUC General Manager Dennis Herrera
San Francisco, CA — The City of San Francisco’s top elected officials sent a formal request to PG&E CEO Patricia Poppe this week asking for an explanation for recent power outages that have created “significant public health and safety risks and economic disruption” — including the temporary closure of the city’s 9-1-1 emergency system and the loss of power at Zuckerberg SF General Hospital, the city’s only Trauma 1 center.
Signed by Mayor London Breed, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, City Attorney David Chiu, and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission General Manager Dennis Herrera, the letter details PG&E’s failure to provide crucial, timely information to emergency professionals and first responders, residents, and City officials during recent power outages.
The letter also reminds PG&E of the City's standing offer to purchase the local electric grid. “These calls went largely unanswered under previous PG&E leadership, so the City has moved forward under state law. But we continue to hope you will reconsider the company’s position and realize that a cooperative process leading to an agreement would provide significant value to PG&E’s customers and shareholders….After many decades, it is time for the City to gain the energy independence that comes from owning its local grid.”
As the City’s public power efforts move forward, city officials expressed their frustration with PG&E for failing to keep the power on — or provide timely information about its status, even as thousands of San Franciscans have gone days without electricity. The letter also notes several other noteworthy outages that knocked out power to the City’s 9-1-1 center and left Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital without power for 15 hours.
“The safety and wellbeing of our residents and businesses is our first priority, and as a fundamental principle of good government, it’s our duty to deliver services San Franciscans expect and deserve,” said Mayor London Breed. “Timely information, especially when unforeseen events arise like recent power outages, is critical to how we respond in emergency situations. It is absolutely unacceptable for PG&E to withhold or delay any communication that would help inform the City’s emergency response and management.”
"The most recent PG&E electrical fires and five-day power outage that impacted every aspect of life in San Francisco’s northeast quadrant could have been avoided with a reasonable state of good repair,” said Board President Aaron Peskin, who also represents the district where the latest power outage occurred. “From essential traffic signalization that was out for days to patients who had to throw out their insulin or couldn’t access dialysis treatment, the impact was dramatic and widespread. I had monolingual SRO residents and seniors who couldn’t flush their toilets, take showers or charge their cell phones. Candidly, it was all exacerbated by a frustrating lack of communication or accountability from PG&E, which will be the subject of a hearing at the Government Audit and Oversight Committee later this month.”
“PG&E has continually failed to meet its obligations to provide the City and residents with information during power outages,” said City Attorney David Chiu. “This is basic common sense—first responders and emergency management staff need timely information during an emergency. Gatekeeping information during a power outage only puts the public in harm’s way. We are calling on PG&E to work with us during these outages for the safety of all San Franciscans.”
San Francisco leaders have expressed their willingness for years to relieve PG&E of the responsibility for managing the local grid, especially given the utility’s inability to provide safe, reliable service. San Francisco already supplies more than 70% of the energy used by its residents, but its existing power programs continue to rely on PG&E’s local distribution grid. “This arrangement is unusual, a source of friction for both the City and PG&E, and inconsistent with the City’s goals and objectives,” the letter notes.
“The reality is, PG&E continues to fail to meet its basic obligations to California customers," said SFPUC General Manager Dennis Herrera. "Right now, PG&E is too big and too dysfunctional to effectively prioritize what needs to get done. They are too big to succeed. This most recent outage only underscores the need for San Francisco to buy PG&E’s electric grid in the City so we can reinvest in the system to ensure that electricity is safe, reliable, and affordable for all San Franciscans. Unlike PG&E, we are a not-for-profit utility. That allows us to keep our rates lower than PG&E’s. Rather than paying a CEO $51 million, as PG&E did in 2021, that’s money that we would reinvest into the safety and reliability of our system.”
More information about recent power outages is available here:
https://sf.gov/news/city-leaders-call-pge-address-recent-power-outages-impacting-thousands-residents
The City’s letter to PG&E is here.
