As governor, Tom Steyer wants to hold California utilities accountable. Here’s how
One year after devastating fires tore through the Los Angeles area communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena, California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer spoke about the impact of utility companies on wildfires in the state.
Steyer, a Democrat who has been vocal on his opinion that utility companies should be held accountable for causing fires, spoke to the press Wednesday at Urban Hive in downtown Sacramento about how he plans to hold utility companies accountable.
“Today is the very sad first anniversary of two of California’s worst fire disasters, and I want to express my deepest sympathy to the victims of those disasters,” Steyer said. “I want to express my deepest gratitude and respect for the emergency responders who showed up and risk so much to try and limit the damage of those two catastrophic fires.”
Steyer said electrical utility monopolies are a major issue in California. He believes the state needs to connect new power projects to the grid faster, increase and vary regulations imposed on utilities, introduce more competition and ban political donations to prevent utility companies from “influencing political decisions that impact their bottom line against the interests of California citizens.”
“If you look around the world, outside of California, there’s an explosion of cheap solar, an explosion of batteries and an explosion of local grids,” he said. “We have to make sure all of those things are possible here — that companies and communities can get behind the grid to compete with the monopoly electricity providers so that we can have an actual competition.”
Steyer, 68, launched his campaign to replace Gavin Newsom in November. The billionaire founder of Farallon Capital Management — a San Francisco-based hedge fund — previously ran for president in 2020 and has spent millions on promoting ballot measures, including a 2012 proposition aimed at raising more money for schools and a 2016 hike on the state’s tobacco tax.
The Bee’s Paul Kitagaki Jr. contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 7, 2026 at 3:30 PM.
