San Francisco Asks State Utility Regulators To Set A Price For PG&E Transmission Lines In The City
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Citing safety concerns, San Francisco officials asked state utility regulators Tuesday to come up with a fair price for the purchase of the Pacific Gas & Electric lines and equipment used to distribute electrical power to customers within the city.
The San Francisco PUC operates and manages Hetch Hetchy Water and Power and is currently providing enough power to meet approximately 75% of the electricity consumed in San Francisco.
But while being in control of generating electricity, the city has depended on PG&E to maintain the power lines and transmission.
"While San Francisco has not experienced the devastation associated with catastrophic wildfires and other disasters caused by PG&E, over the years PG&E's difficulty in maintaining a safe and reliable system has caused multiple incidents resulting in injuries and property damage within the city," city attorneys wrote in their petition to state regulators."
City officials also claim the costs of PG&E's failures have been passed on to San Francisco residents.
"PG&E customers in San Francisco, like PG&E's other customers, have also paid substantial costs resulting from PG&E's physical and financial disasters, including two bankruptcies in as many decades," the petition read.
The purchase would include: All of PG&E's distribution assets within the city, including distribution-level
substations, metering, customer-level interconnections, and related facilities. And all transmission assets within the city, including substations, transmission lines, transformers, and related facilities needed for operational control.'
The petition comes about two years after the city unsuccessfully tried to pay $2.5 billion for PG&E's local electric system amid the company's wildfire-caused bankruptcy.
"San Francisco is committed to acquiring this infrastructure," said City Attorney Dennis Herrera told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Once and for all, I think this will give us a definitive dollar figure as to what these assets are worth and allow us to move forward in a positive way."