San Francisco’s Potential PG&E Breakup is on ‘A Very Difficult Road.’ Here’s Why
January 6, 2026
San Francisco Chronicle
Severin Borenstein, Energy Institute Faculty Director, discusses in the San Francisco Chronicle how San Francisco’s effort to break away from PG&E faces major economic, legal, and regulatory hurdles, warning that creating a city run utility would be far more complicated, time consuming, and expensive than many supporters expect.
“‘It’s not completely infeasible, but it would be a very difficult road, and you’ve got to put the chances at pretty low that (San Francisco) would succeed,’ said Severin Borenstein, a UC Berkeley energy economist. ‘PG&E could draw it out for a very long time, throw up as many barriers as they could and demand as high a valuation as they could. I think that maintaining political support throughout that process would be very difficult.'”
Photo: sfchronicle.com