Ever wonder what’s powering MUNI’s electric buses? The same force of gravity that propels your water across California, to your tap, is also harnessed to generate clean, 100% greenhouse gas-free Hetch Hetchy hydroelectric power. That’s right; your tap water powers MUNI’s electric buses. 150 miles before your Hetch Hetchy tap water gets to you, the very same water you use to quench your thirst has gone through turbines to generate clean energy for MUNI and a whole host of other City services.

Hetch Hetchy powers all of the City’s municipal facilities (SFO, SFGH, MUNI, fire stations and more), residents and businesses in the Hunter’s Point Shipyard, Treasure Island and other retail customers. In fact, your tap water generates enough clean energy for 17% of the City’s electricity needs. Pretty cool, right?

The combined total hydroelectric generating capacity  is approximately 385 megawatts. On average, the Hetch Hetchy Power System generates 1.6 billion kilowatt hours of clean, hydroelectric energy each year. The SFPUC provides this energy to its retail electric customers, wholesale electric customers and in normal-to-high precipitations years, the SFPUC sells this energy on the California energy markets.

For a map of our power system, please visit our Hetchy Power System Map.