Days after slamming PG&E, a different group of Fresno leaders will meet with utility giant
A new delegation of Fresno leaders announced Monday they plan to meet with Pacific Gas & Electric officials later this week to hammer out a 60-day deal to get Fresno’s building projects electrified faster.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and Councilmember Garry Bredefeld last week rallied other local leaders to blast PG&E, arguing Fresnans shouldn’t be saddled with PG&E’s unfair rate hikes. They also complained about PG&E’s delays to power newly built homes and other construction projects.
The Fresno City Council, however, postponed approval for a feasibility study on Fresno’s options to connect residents with electricity. Dyer and Bredefeld said they were interested in studying whether the city could become a utility provider, an idea others criticized.
Now, Fresno Councilmembers Miguel Arias and Mike Karbassi are taking matters into their own hands.
“Our current situation in getting homes and buildings electrified within the city of Fresno is at a critical moment,” Councilmembers Miguel Arias and Mike Karbassi said in a joint statement on Monday. “Last week’s lengthy debate about a hypothetical, multi-billion-dollar government takeover of electric service did nothing to turn on a single new light bulb in our city. The only pathway to solving these problems immediately is working with our local utility and focusing efforts on rapidly bringing these properties on-line. We are grateful to open a dialogue between PG&E’s highest leadership and the Fresno City Council.”
Arias and Karbassi spoke by phone on Monday with Christopher Patterson, PG&E’s vice president for government relations, about the delays in electrifying housing, commercial and educational projects. The two councilmembers will meet with PG&E officials Thursday, along with other local elected officials to create the action plan.
“We look forward to working with PG&E officials to establish a 60-day action plan to address our city’s top priority projects for rapid electrification,” the two councilmembers said in their statement. “This will ensure Fresnans are able to move into new homes, get our educational campuses up-and-running, and help businesses grow quickly.”
Joining the councilmembers will be incoming Councilmember Annalisa Perea, Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, D-Fresno, and Carole Goldsmith, chancellor of State Center Community College District.
Goldsmith so far is the only official who was involved in last week’s efforts, which included Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, two other Fresno City Councilmembers, members of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, the Building Industry Association and more.
That group favored the city taking over power operations if the study found that was a viable option. Other leaders, including Arias, immediately cast doubt on that option.
Nevertheless, Dyer said he was glad to see Arias and Karbassi get involved on the issue.
“It is good to see them at the table now that it has been set,” Dyer said about the meeting. “Although they are a little late to the party, at least they finally showed up. I hope they will be equally engaged as I have been over the past year in fighting for lower PG&E rates for our residents and business owners.”
Bredefeld said local leaders will continue to apply pressure on PG&E.
“They feel the pressure, and so they are now meeting with Arias and Karbassi who bowed down to them at our last council meeting and refused to look at options that Fresno could pursue to ensure better and cheaper service,” Bredefeld said. “We will continue applying pressure regardless of who they meet with. PG&E will not be allowed to continue to economically hurt our citizens and businesses. Period.”
The meeting scheduled for Thursday tentatively will include PG&E’s Christopher Patterson, Joshua Simes, Central Valley vice president for PG&E and other PG&E service planning officials, Arias and Karbassi said.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 4:46 PM.