[kevinburke]

Yes, the fact that PG&E rejected the offer is why I adjusted the figure for Walnut Creek's population and then increased it by 50%. The fact is muni borrowing is cheap - even if PG&E charged $1 billion we could finance that for about six cents per kilowatt hour.

I don't think the CPUC will let them get away with "we won't sell at any price" - I think the regulators would force them to sell at some price.

[brian-armstrong]

PG&E surely knows that if it lets one city do this, then more will follow quickly. It will be left with the least profitable regions and cities that can't afford to/don't have the credit for this transition. That would ultimately leave the remaining customers in an even less affordable position.

[greesil]

Maybe these expensive-to-serve regions need a different model of power generation.

[brian-armstrong]

Possibly, but that's orthogonal to my comment. Point is that there will still be cities that have to shoulder PG&E costs not because they have fires but because they can't afford to purchase and maintain their own grid, or don't have the political strength to get it done.

[JasserInicide]

Or living so far from civilization, especially in a state where wildfires have been part of the ecosystem for millions of years.

[greesil]

Altadena isn't exactly far from civilization. The point isn't that wild fires happen, it's that maybe these little places should go "off grid" so everybody can get a lower price. Everybody but them probably.

[abeppu]

> I don't think the CPUC will let them get away with "we won't sell at any price" - I think the regulators would force them to sell at some price.

Has the CPUC forced such a sale before? Functionally, if PG&E can just safely gauge what's likely to be out of reach for each city, they can name a price detached from reality and be confident of maintaining their stranglehold.

[gvkhna]

Unfortunately most of the CPUC worked at PGE, the people that understand energy regulation are usually energy folks. And so the CPUC is typically quite understanding of PG&E’s pleas, they approved every single rate hike they’ve proposed. 5 times last year alone.