SF Still Determined to Buy Local PG&E Grid, Demands an Appraisal so They Can Bid PG&E rebuffed SF’s $2.5 billion offer for the city’s grid in 2019, but now the city is power-playing for an appraisal and gaming to force the utility to sell. With the exception of the constant factor that PG&E starts wildfires every summer, plenty has changed since San Francisco tried to buy PG&E’s grid and power lines within city limits back in 2019 for $2.5 billion. Most notably, coronavirus came along. But the anticipated decimation of the city’s budget was neatly avoided thanks to Biden bailout bucks, so San Francisco can once again afford to make sizable investments in clean energy. PG&E, for their part, are no longer in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, so their backs are perhaps less against the wall.