PG&E: Bill for public takeover introduced

State Sen. Scott Wiener is following through on his plan to try reshaping the investorowned Pacific Gas and Electric Co. into a governmentrun operation.

Wiener, DSan Francisco, introduced legislation on Monday to end PG&E’s morethanacenturylong run as a private utility. He formally announced the proposal in front of the state building in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza, flanked by city Supervisors Norman Yee, Aaron Peskin and Rafael Mandelman, former California Public Utilities Commission President Loretta Lynch and others.

The move comes more than a year after PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection because its power lines caused numerous devastating wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed more than 18,000 buildings. Wiener’s legislative attempt also follows Gov. Gavin Newsom’s repeated threats to take over the embattled utility if it

does not produce a sufficiently transformative bankruptcy exit plan.

PG&E sought to address some of Newsom’s concerns late Friday in a bankruptcyrelated filing with the state utilities commission. In the filing, the company said it would break its operations into new regional units, commit to stricter safety requirements and shake up its board of directors, among other changes. Shares of the utility’s parent company, PG&E Corp., rose 13.54% on Monday as Wall Street digested the company’s latest plans.

Wiener told The Chronicle he’s “glad PG&E is finally starting to listen to the governor instead of pretending that he doesn’t exist.” But California still needs to “end PG&E’s incentive to appease Wall Street,” he said.

“The heart of the problem is that PG&E is more focused on shareholder return than on safety and reliability investments,” Wiener said. “But PG&E’s model is also inherently broken.”

Wiener said his staff has met with staff members from Newsom’s office about the public power legislation. A spokesman for the governor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At his news conference announcing the bill, Wiener said his legislation would “put an end to the dangerous rollercoaster ride that we have been on with PG&E over the past decade.” He called PG&E a “failed company.” His bill would move ownership over to a newly formed Northern California Energy Utility District.

Lynch echoed that sentiment.

“PG&E’s criminal actions and failure to keep California safe mean that it should no longer be allowed the privilege of operating Northern California’s power system,” she said at the news conference.

Members of IBEW Local 1245, which represents 12,000 PG&E employees, protested at Wiener’s news conference announcing the bill. They held signs saying “Wiener don’t touch my pension,” booed and shouted “lies” repeatedly. At times Wiener and others, including Lynch, struggled to speak over the heckling.

IBEW has been vocal about its opposition to a local government takeover of PG&E in San Francisco. Phuong Tran, a PG&E gas service representative and union steward, said after the news conference on Monday that IBEW members fear what government control would mean for their retirement benefits and job security.

“We’re not just gas and electrical workers ... there’s tons of jobs that our union represents,” Tran said. “People are gonna lose their jobs if the state takes over. Guaranteed.”

PG&E said in its official statement that it opposes Wiener’s proposal, reiterating the company’s stance that its power poles, electrical wires and other assets are not for sale.

“Additionally, changing the structure of the company would not create a safer or cleaner operation,” PG&E spokesman Paul Doherty said in an email. “We remain firmly convinced that a government or customer takeover is not the optimal solution that will address the challenges ahead and serve the longrun interests of all customers in the communities we serve.”

Doherty pointed to PG&E’s recently revealed plan to divide its business operations into different regions. Each region would have a PG&E officer reporting directly to the CEO and also have its own safety officer, according to the company’s regulatory filing on Friday. That would allow PG&E to “achieve the customerfocused health, welfare, and safety outcomes everyone wants, expects and deserves,” Doherty said in the email.

Wiener said in November that he would introduce legislation to make PG&E publicly owned, after the company subjected millions of Californians to prolonged blackouts in a controversial attempt to prevent its power lines from causing even more devastating fires. A separate bill already advanced by Wiener would try to limit such blackouts and create a way to make PG&E pay customers for spoiled food and other losses. That bill, SB378, has passed the Senate and will now be considered in the Assembly.

Sonoma County disabilityrights advocate Richard Skaff invoked the blackouts when speaking in support of Wiener’s bill at the San Francisco news conference. Skaff, executive director of the nonprofit Designing Accessible Communities, criticized how PG&E’s shutoffs negatively affect disabled people.

Blackouts are “not for us, they’re for the corporate executives,” Skaff said.

“You should be concerned about that as employees,” he told the protesting IBEW workers. “I believe you have rights, and I want your rights protected. But our rights need to be protected. Our lives need to be protected.”

PG&E has long resisted attempts to upend its business model or reduce its customer base. San Francisco last year offered the company $2.5 billion for its local poles and wires, hoping to set up a fully governmentrun electric utility in PG&E’s hometown. PG&E rejected the offer in October, but city officials said at the time that they were not giving up their plans.

Wiener said his bill would not prevent San Francisco or any other municipality from trying to set up its own, local governmentrun electric utility.

Government control is not the only alternative ownership structure being considered for PG&E. A group of local elected leaders, led by San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, has pursued a separate plan that would make PG&E a customerowned cooperative akin to a credit union.

As of early December, the coop plan had been endorsed by more than 100 elected officials representing more than 8 million people — half the number of residents served by PG&E. As with government takeover attempts, the company has resisted the idea of being turned into a coop as well.

PG&E shares ended the trading day at $17.27, its highest closing price since August.