EXPERT TESTIMONY BACKS SAN FRANCISCO'S $2.5 BILLION PUBLIC POWER OFFER

May 23

PG&E is using the same old playbook to try to stop San Francisco from serving critical City projects—raising rates, delaying local projects, and dragging its feet to obstruct the process wherever it can. And PG&E’s delays and high rates are a problem throughout its service area.

But that has only made the City more determined to make progress in its efforts to shift to full public power.

Last month, San Francisco took the next step in public power expansion when it formally provided the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) with 126 pages of testimony from a panel of independent experts backing the City’s standing offer to purchase PG&E’s San Francisco electric facilities.

PG&E claimed in 2019 and 2020 that San Francisco’s offer to buy the power grid is “too low.” So, in 2021, the City asked the CPUC, the state energy regulator, to determine what a fair price would be. Last year, the CPUC asked for written testimony from both sides that will inform formal hearings next year.

The City’s filing includes testimony from a panel of respected, third-party experts whose detailed estimates of the value confirm that the City’s original offer of $2.5 billion was reasonable for PG&E’s San Francisco-based assets.

This professional assessment includes:

Utility systems engineers conducted a complete inventory and estimated cost of all of the electrical equipment the City seeks to acquire.
Real property appraisers provided an assessment of the value of the land and buildings the City seeks to acquire.
Certified utility appraisers conducted their own estimate—valuing the purchase at $2.4 billion based on industry-wide appraisal standards.
Investment bankers then provided an updated market price—projecting a sale of between $2.5 billion and $3 billion to a corporate buyer.

San Francisco has been providing safe, clean, affordable power to its residents for more than 100 years. We know we can do this job better than PG&E—and we know we’ve made a fair offer to take over the rest of the local grid.

We look forward to a full hearing before the CPUC next year, where we will have a chance to remind PG&E of one important fact:

It’s Our City. It’s Our Power.

And we’re committed to taking it back.

Learn more about what you can do to support the shift to a safer, cleaner, and more affordable power system: publicpowersf.org.

Read the City’s full CPUC testimony here.