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San Francisco’s public-power debate sharpens over dueling grid estimates
City officials challenged PG&E’s $20 billion valuation of San Francisco’s electric grid, calling it inflated. The utility says the city’s $3.4 billion estimate leaves out important costs.
San Francisco officials sharply disputed Pacific Gas & Electric’s $20 billion price tag for the city’s electric grid on Thursday, arguing the figure is far above what the city estimates the system is worth.
Supervisor Myrna Melgar called PG&E’s valuation “a ridiculous number,” comparing the utility’s position to a homeowner seeking the highest possible sale price. Other city officials described the figure as “absurd,” “fantasy” and “inflated.”
The city’s estimate is $3.4 billion, a gap of $16.6 billion from PG&E’s figure. The utility argues that the city’s calculation excludes key costs. The competing valuations are central to San Francisco’s longstanding effort to consider public ownership of its electric system, which is currently operated by PG&E.
The dispute leaves residents facing a basic question in the public-power debate: what would it actually cost the city to take over the grid? The figures presented by the two sides differ dramatically, and the available details do not specify which costs account for the divide.