State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, announced Monday he plans to propose a law to have the state take over PG&E and run it as a publicly owned utility.
“PG&E is a failed utility with a track record of prioritizing profits over safety,” Wiener said during a new conference today.
Wiener said he believes the state would do a better job than the currently shareholder-owned utility at preventing wildfires and blackouts.
“Wall Street will be taken out” of the equation, he said.
Under the proposed law, the State Power Authority would buy all of PG&E’s shares and transfer ownership to a publicly owned utility, the Northern California Energy Utility District.
PG&E spokesman James Noonan responded, “We oppose Senator Wiener’s proposed framework, and PG&E’s facilities are not for sale.
“Additionally, changing the structure of the company would not create a safer or cleaner operation,” Noonan said.
PG&E, facing billions of dollars in claims for wildfires sparked by electrical equipment failures, is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings while it develops a financial reorganization plan.
Noonan said, “We remain focused on fairly resolving wildfire claims and exiting the Chapter 11 process as quickly as possible.”
Parts of Wiener’s news conference were drowned by shouts from about 30 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, protesting that their PG&E jobs and pensions would be at risk.
Wiener said the proposed law would protect workers’ collective bargaining agreements, wages, benefits and pensions.
The senator hopes to introduce the bill proposing the law in the Assembly as early as Monday afternoon, according to spokeswoman Catie Stewart.
Not saying PG&E is doing a great job but how can the state do a better job even if they spend more money? And they will spend more money.
Yep. Our money, then tax us more
Maybe they should run San Francisco too.
Good heavens does Weiner ever shut up? Bill a week .
Look at DMV and tell me you want the state to run PGand E . I dare you .
Postal Service, Caltrans….BART.
What the public doesn’t realize is how regulated PG&E already is by the State.
2nd, how much is everyone willing to spend for Safe and Reliable service? At some point there’s going to be a break where people just bite the apple and purchase solar. The days of Solar being 20,000 dollars are over, $5,000 to $7,500 for a small home is closer to reality.
3rd, If the State takes over……is the State going to pay the 4 billion dollars that FEMA is demanding from PG&E for the fires??
If this happens, expect the price of electricity to skyrocket after our governor mandates that all California’s power be generated by zero-emission fairy farts, and the government adds 27 levels of bureaucracy to their management.
Fairy farts.?….bwahahaha
I guess all of the Liberals and Nanny politicians who were elected to really do their job and not be media whores would be at a loss if they were charged with performing their duties instead of always going sideways and not getting anything done. Always chasing that next sound byte.
Anyone recognize some of politicians in that description????
Great. Let’s see how bad they can screw it up. PG&E basically is almost a construction company for doing the maintenance and operations it does to keep power flowing. Now think of every CA job that has been run by the state government. Expect bigger and better power outages at a higher cost to us and probably more wild fires started by transmission lines.
I wish this Idiot Wiener would go away completely. He has passed some destructive laws concerning aids and it’s transmission and now wants to totally screw us with our energy needs
California can’t fix the roads; can’t figure out the homeless problem; got a high speed rail to nowhere. Yeah, sure… They’re gonna take over PG&E. It will be another Caltrans bureaucratic mess. 10 guys standing around, one guy pushing a shovel.
Maybe the state should fix our infrastructure first. I read an article that CA ranks close to last in road quality. https://nypost.com/2020/02/01/ny-and-ca-spend-billions-more-in-taxes-than-tx-and-fl-and-get-worse-results/
Timing is important! Would the state take over before or after PGE pays all its fines and claims? Before or after exit bankruptcy? If they must take over then I hope it’s after all of the above.
Poor idea. Just look at our streets and freeways. Just look at the Bart taxes that get spent in other ways than were expected. Our tax money would be sent all over the state, not just our power.
If we push into nature and not respect it, what happens? Some accountability needs to be done by the people and government regarding high fire areas.
PGE needs fixing, but not be run by our government.
Maybe they’ll be able to power the “High Speed Rail” if the state take over.
Granted PGE has had serious problems. However, California can’t run itself. I feel like the liberals are looking for a way to tax us more. After all the California voters aren’t very bright, they voted for a third gas tax.
I want our gas and electric service to be run just like the DMV. PC and affirmative action that will do it.
There is no proof that a govt run utility will be better off than a private, publicly-traded utility.
Be careful for what you wish for if the State takes over PG&E because the can exempt itself from lawsuits.
Of course the state should take over all utilities. That always works so well!
Somehow, I think this is a bad idea just because Newsom is suggesting it.
Take over PG&E ?!? ….California government can’t find it’s own ass with a map, flashlight and both hands …
Just look at the state in general do you think they will do better than PG&E. I doubt it
SMUD for over 70 years has been a community-owned, not-for-profit electric service. There are a couple of others in The Sacramento area that have kept rates lower than pge and more reliable service.
The problem pge has is the backlog of maintenance that was set aside to give the stock holders their profits. Anyone that runs it will have this problem unless stockholders are eliminated.
That’s the irony, pg&e wants the benefits (rate increases), of being a community-owned utility but wants to reward their shareholders.
They cannot have it both ways. Deferred maintenance so that they can pay out dividends……..but then they can go to the CPUC and ask for one after another rate increases, for What?
They need oversight big time.
Last time I checked, SMUD is a little (LOT) smaller that PG&E and doesn’t have any facilities in a high fire danger area. Not too many problems in a concrete jungle.
They’ll turn it into the Power Company version of San Francisco.
It would be a cash cow for funding who knows what. Look at what they do with the taxes now. They are building a NFL stadium at SDSU with the school kids bond money.
Both Wiener and De Saulnier are the same – just different facial presentation.
They are both mouthy, unrealistic and like to hear their “brains” rattle!
Well said…
Remember that nice smart meter that PG&E installed at your home? It will be controlled by the state, and will shut off from time to time if you are considered an energy hog.
In addition to absurdly high pricing like the new fast toll lanes,which can adjust pricing to match conditions.
This is one, really bad idea.
If you don’t understand why then there’s no help for you.
What is this, Venezuela? We can pass laws and just take property now?
They’ve blown us up, burned us up, patronized us with pompous and self-serving programs and advertisements, are teetering on bankruptcy because they deferred maintenance millions to bonuses….yet they are still FAR more trustworthy than Scott wiener and the incompetent stooges in California government.
What a wiener!
So this guy wants the same people that take care of our roads to take care of our power lines?
I don’t think so…
What’s next, bring back 8 track tapes?
Show us some progress with California’s current problems, then talk to us about taking on new ventures.
These limousine liberals have got to go.
Cassettes would be ok,and eliminated purely so you would buy CD’s.
This State run government is way out of hand ! they don’t know how to run anything but their mouths. time to start up my own business and create my own power company. what PG&E needs is compitition not the state running due to the fact their track record sucks !
PG&E sucks, but I don’t think the Government (federal, state, or local) should be allowed to hijack a business for “crapping the bed” during the normal course of operations. However, PG&E is exhibit A as to why monopolies are dangerous. Even if, the Government were to buy-out PG&E and take control, it would make matters worse. The Government is not known for being conscientious of time and/or costs, they just keep taking our tax-dollars. The private sector however, must be conscientious of time and costs or, they go out of business.
The state of California can not even get people to use the Toilet.
Weiner – how appropriately named Scott is. He’s the doofus who wants to eliminate private property rights.
I thought these guys (Weiner) were supposed to represent the people….funny I did not see one comment supporting the man….I wonder if he is getting a clue or if he is just going to try and shove it down everyone’s throat…
The state should not take over PG&E with all of its liabilities outstanding and the unknown one to come. Wall St would call it a bad investment.
Great! Another Socialist attempt to take over a company. The Stare of California cannot run the state let alone a utility company. Hey, why doesn’t PG&E start laying off from the top instead of socking it to their customers?
There is a budget surplus.
It seems like this is more of a rant against this Weiner guy from the city, I’ve never seen him with a sober idea till now. The messenger stinks to high heaven but he is spot on.
PG&E WAS an OUTSTANDING public utility, it went private and has gone downhill ever since. Anybody that has been around long enough to see the poor performance since privatization would welcome the return to public status.
The local trolls should really read up on the history of what was once a great company before spewing the usual, predictable, responses. As for Socialism…really….lolol look around, what do you think FREEWAYS are??
I guess you guys are TOLL Rd. TROLLS that support “private freeways” what about our flood control, sewage, garbage, our WAY overpriced Police services ( check out our local BURDEN) IT IS UNREAL. I could go on but if you don’t already get it you never will. GET REAL. GO PUBLIC. NOW.
DV
What are you talking about? Are you saying PGE went private and was publicly owned at one time? When was that?
I would say a big part happened with the 2001 bankruptcy “reorganization”. They split the company into ‘PG&E Corporation’ and ‘PG&E Company’.
PG&E Corporation calls the shots in regards to deferring maintenance and hitting up the ratepayers for more money. PG&E Company is the employees out working on the facilities who question “what in the world is Corporate doing”?
As has already been stated, how much more can be squeezed from the ratepayers before another more attractive offer (solar) lures them away.
Obviously PG&E needs to improve but there is one thing they do that has to be costly that I believe should not be their responsibility. In most neighborhoods PG&E went in when the houses were first built. People moved in and planted trees under the power lines. Why should it be the responsibility for PG&E to trim those trees. Property owners should be given notice to get the job done or get billed from PG&E to do the job for them. Same goes for cities or state that plant trees along roadways.
Great Newson wants to run California like his own country. Will never happen.
I have an idea how about send all the PG&E executive’s to jail for taking all the money from the state and differing the maintenance for profits. If you actually start holding these companies liable for the thieves they are it would stop. Put a few CEO’s in jail and things will stop.
Any bill that has Wiener on it, I’m against. Don’t even need to read it. The guy is a complete idiot!
If the state were to take over PG&E, the first thing they would do is cut through all the red tape that they should be doing for PG&E. Like inverse condemnation, or the power to dictate what trees should be addressed and/or removed if necessary. PG&E does not have that ability due to all the snowflakes who are so attached to their trees.
That is a scary idea. I certainly hope not. Our state is so dysfunctional now as it is. Our rules, tax structures, our roads and freeways, are all very bad. In other words, California doesn’t deserve to take over any utility, especially
PGE! The government is out of control. Here is good idea!! California needs to be managed by different State. Ha ha.