Overview
- State Sen. Scott Wiener will outline legislation Monday to allow San Francisco and other cities to form publicly owned utilities and exit PG&E more quickly.
- Supervisors Rafael Mandelman, Bilal Mahmood and Alan Wong are set to join him at a City Hall announcement at 9:30 a.m.
- The proposal targets what Wiener calls an unworkably slow California Public Utilities Commission process that has stalled San Francisco's opt-out effort.
- UC Berkeley’s Severin Borenstein says a split would likely require buying PG&E’s local poles and wires and could shift wildfire costs onto remaining PG&E customers.
- San Francisco could lean on existing public-power programs through the SF Public Utilities Commission, and backers note more than 45 public utilities already operate in California.