Scott Wiener Wants SF to Break-Up with PG&E

On Saturday, 22 December 2025, just after 1 p.m., a fire broke out at the Pacific Gas and Electric substation at the corner of Mission and 8th Streets. Though there is no clear account of what caused the fire and though the exterior of the building showed no signs of damage, 40,000 customers in San Francisco'sj SoMa neighborhood were without power. While firefighters worked to control the blaze, PG&E technicians cut off power to other parts of San Francisco's electrical grid to prevent more fires, resulting in an outage for 130,000 customers throughout San Francisco.

Fortunately, power was restored for South of Market in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning, but full restoration of current did not go into effect until approximately 4:31 a.m. on Tuesday, 23 December 2025.

This frustrating, scary and dangerous incident has doubtlessly and understandably stuck in the craw of  numerous City officials. While Mayor Daniel Lurie has called the blackout unacceptable and chided PG&E to “do better,” State Senator Scott Wiener wants San Francisco to divest from the private energy company altogether. During a press conference outside City Hall on 23 February 2026, he said, outright, “We are done, and it is time for San Francisco to break up with PG&E.”

At the press conference, Wiener introduced California Senate Bill 875, which he first introduced in late February. This legislation is designed to make it easier for California municipalities to sever ties with private energy companies in favor of having the electrical grid being owned by the public. 

Previously, Scott Weiner unsuccessfully pushed legislation to turn PG&E public in 2020. The following year, the City of San Francisco petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for a fair market-valuation determination of PG&E’s local grid after the company rejected the City’s two purchase offers, including one for $2.5 billion. Unfortunately, according to Wiener, the valuation procedure is rigged by PG&E and other private utilities with the obvious specific purpose of protecting the bottom line. 

Studies have shown that public power companies, such as the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) tend to be more accountable and transparent, suffer fewer accidents and outages and charge customers approximately 50 percent less than private investor-owned utilities like PG&E.

With all that in mind, it's an utmost necessity that every city from Humboldt to Santa Barbara ultimately divest from PG&E and opt for public-owned electricity, considering the numerous fires and explosions in California that have been caused by PG&E’s routinely criminally negligent behavior. There is no doubt that a public utility company would certainly be more mindful that climate change is making California hotter and drier, resulting in a longer fire season year by year. Surely this would enable opportunities for better maintenance of equipment, which equals fewer fires.