Why Public Power is Part of San Francisco’s DNA
Today is the first day of Public Power Week, a national celebration of the 2,000 community-owned, not-for-profit power utilities across the country –which together deliver safe, reliable, low-cost electricity to more than 54 million Americans.
California alone is home to more than 40 public power utilities, supplying 25% of the state’s electricity load. And San Francisco is proud to be one of the nation’s longest-running and most successful public power providers.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) has been doing this job for more than 100 years, supplying more than 75% of the power consumed today in the City. Today San Francisco’s public power system has two major components:
Hetch Hetchy Power: San Francisco’s public power utility, Hetch Hetchy Power, generates and delivers 100% clean energy to the City’s major infrastructure, public buildings, and more.
CleanPowerSF: The City’s community choice energy program, CleanPowerSF, provides clean, affordable, reliable power to more than 385,000 residential and commercial customers in San Francisco.
Public power is in our DNA, and the SFPUC has earned San Franciscans’ trust and confidence with a decades-long track record of supporting union jobs, hiring locally, and providing clean power every time you need to turn the lights on.
The shift to full public power
In spite of all of our progress, there is still one major obstacle to providing public power to everyone in San Francisco: PG&E, the investor-owned utility that controls the city’s local electric grid—a company with a long track record of putting profits over the public good.
With PG&E rates skyrocketing and customer frustration with the company reaching all-time highs, San Francisco is getting ready to drop PG&E once and for all—and make the shift to full public power.
San Francisco submitted an offer in 2019 to purchase the local grid for $2.5 billion. When PG&E refused, saying the price was too low, the City began working with the California Public Utilities Commission to secure an independent assessment of the grid’s fair-market value.
We’ll be sharing more throughout Public Power Week about our progress—and about what San Franciscans will get from breaking away from PG&E.
A few things we know for sure, based on our decades of experience with public power:
Public power is more affordable: Public power utilities across the United States offer more affordable rates than investor-owned utilities. Public power programs don’t pay shareholder dividends, corporate taxes, or executive bonuses. We reinvest revenues back into the system and have access to lower-cost financing, reducing ratepayer costs.
Public power is more reliable: Customers of public power utilities experience fewer hours without power than customers of other utilities. With full public power, San Francisco will be able to provide even more reliable electric service—prioritizing battery storage, renewables, and undergrounding to build a stronger, more climate-resilient, and modern power infrastructure.
Public power is more accountable: Public power is directly accountable to the local community, not Wall Street, with local oversight of utility operations and investments. San Francisco will also see the benefits of public power with no impact to tax dollars for City priorities like public safety and affordable housing.
It’s our city. It’s our power. And we are going to need your help to take it back. Stay tuned for more this week about San Francisco’s shift to public power.
