Supporters of Public Power and Opponents Agree They Can’t Trust City of San Diego with Another Utility

Supporters of the effort to put SDG&E out of business, and have a local government oversee the transmission and distribution of electricity, have apparently recognized that their biggest obstacle may be a perceived lack of trust in how well the city is operating.  

At the Politifest 2025 discussion on how we can make electricity more affordable, former City Manager Jack McGrory argued that the best hope was to push SDG&E to keep trying to lower bills and advocate for the legislature to remove some of the many mandates they’ve put into electric bills.  

But his main point was residents simply couldn’t trust the city of San Diego to run their power company.  

“Do you actually trust the City Council of this city to take over the electric grid? Remember you are using your computers, your lights, all of your technology. Do you trust these guys … They’re $8 billion in the hole on infrastructure maintenance. You can’t drive on a goddamn city street without ruining your tires. You want them now to take over your electricity?” McGrory said.   

No, at least not even Bill Powers, who made the case for creating a community-owned, “no-profit” utility. A government agency would have to buy the power lines and more from SDG&E. If SDG&E refused to sell them, the movement hopes the government would use eminent domain to take them.  

“I agree with Jack that a municipal utility, a public electric utility, should not be a city department. I’m sold on that. But there are numerous structures that can be used to firewall it from city council, from the mayor,” Powers said.  

He said there were many structures you can use, including creating a special district or running it as a quasi independent agency like the San Diego Housing Commission.  

“The community just doesn’t have trust in the city’s ability to manage something complicated,” Powers said.  

McGrory tried to predict exactly how it would go.  

“Ultimately the city of San Diego is a corporation is going to have to decide how the utility is going to be governed. And trust me, when the unions get involved in this, and the unions with this particular city council, it’ll be a city utility. It’ll be a city department run by the city of San Diego,” McGrory said.  

Powers’ presentation won the Solutions Showdown. His core point was SDG&E’s profits could immediately be redirected to lower prices and community benefits.  

“We have over 40 public electric utilities in the state. Their hallmark: lower rates, high reliability, good customer service, fast interconnection. More importantly, they are under local control. We do not have that with SDG&E,” Powers said.  

Powers and the group Public Power San Diego hope to qualify a ballot measure (and then win the vote for it) that would force the city to act on municipalizing the electricity grid.  

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