Committee Advances PG&E Takeover Push After Grilling Utility on Outage Failures

San Francisco's Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee spent more than four hours on Feb. 12 pressing PG&E executives on the December power outage that left 130,000 customers in the dark — then unanimously moved two resolutions toward a municipal takeover of the utility's electric grid to the full Board of Supervisors. In a separate, emotionally charged hearing, over a dozen Lower Nob Hill residents demanded closure of the city's largest shelter at 711 Post St., while city officials outlined plans for a new operator and reduced bed count by fall.

• PG&E municipalization and accountability resolutions advance to the full board unanimously, with a worker protection amendment addressing union pension concerns

• PG&E CEO acknowledges December outage response was "unacceptable"; ~130,000 customers lost power, some for three days, after a fire at the Mission substation

• Merchants call PG&E's eight-page claims process "mission impossible" and flag problematic indemnity clauses in settlement agreements

• Lower Nob Hill residents flood hearing demanding closure of 711 Post St. shelter; city plans new operator by April 1 and bed reduction to 250

• Cash acceptance repeal ordinance continued to call of the chair for more community engagement

A circuit breaker fire at PG&E's Mission substation on Dec. 20 knocked out power to roughly one-third of the city — approximately 130,000 customers — during peak holiday week. While 75% of customers were restored within eight hours, about 33,000 waited up to three days, disproportionately in the Richmond and Sunset districts.