Go back to news pageSAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 7, 1994 -- The Board of Supervisors have reignited a long-smoldering political fire by deciding to study whether the city government should try to become San Francisco's supplier of electrical power, taking over the job from PG&E.
"It really is time to find out whether it's feasible for the city to do this," Board President Angela Alioto said Monday at a supervisors meeting. "I think it's time to look at the pros and cons and determine once and for all if it's a good idea."
Alioto, who's spearheading the move, maintains that the city could provide energy at a lower cost than PG&E.
On a six to five vote, the board approved Alioto's plan to appoint a select committee made up of yet-unnamed supervisors. The panel, which will report to the full board, will hold public hearings on the city's ability to provide public power services, and how to go about doing that.
The committee is likely to call for a study to determine how much it would cost to buy the electrical power supply infrastructure -- poles, lines, sub-stations -- from PG&E, which supplies San Francisco with most of its power. Art Agnos had called for a similar study when he was mayor, which would have cost an estimated $250,000; the effort was blocked by the board.
Supervisor Bill Maher, who voted against the committee, said study or no study, the city should not go after PG&E.
"I don't believe that the government should be running things that are successfully run in the private sector," said Maher. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
But Supervisor Terence Hallinan said there's nothing wrong with studying the idea. "It has the potential of bringing in a lot of cost-savings to the people who use energy in San Francisco," he said.
Providing electrical energy is nothing new to San Francisco, which controls Hetch Hetchy, a hydroelectric power source near Yosemite. San Francisco supplies electricity to other communities and powers city-owned buildings and the Municipal Railway's electric buses.
Recently, the city bid against PG&E to supply power to the new Presidio national park and lost. However, that decision, by the National Park Service, is on appeal.
The city also is trying to see whether it can increase the franchise fee it charges PG&E to do business in San Francisco -- a move the utility company has vowed to fight.
Joining Hallinan and Alioto is voting to set up the committee were Supervisors Carole Migden, Kevin Shelley, Sue Bierman and Susan Leal. Joining Maher in opposition were Supervisors Annemarie Conroy, Tom Hsieh, Barbara Kaufman and Willie Kennedy.
PG&E, one of the leading corporations in San Francisco, lobbied hard behind the scenes to defeat Alioto's measure.
Indeed, the issue could be played out in next year's mayoral election. Alioto, who does not hide the fact that she'd like to be mayor, made it a point to keep the committee operating until next December -- a month after the election.
And the most visible backer of wresting the utility business away from PG&E in San Francisco is the San Francisco Bay Guardian newspaper, whose endorsement in local politics is coveted by liberal-leaning politicians.
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