SACRAMENTO — State Sen. Scott Wiener says efforts to restructure Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must include an option to turn the embattled, investor-owned utility into a public entity.

Wiener said he plans to introduce a bill in the Legislature early next year that would require PG&E to become a government-owned utility, though he said details of the proposal are “still very preliminary.”

“PG&E’s current model doesn’t work,” Wiener, D-San Francisco, told The Chronicle on Tuesday. “This company has been irresponsibly run for a long time, and it’s time to refocus it.”

His push for the legislation, which was first reported by Bloomberg News, comes as California leaders debate multiple plans to transform the bankrupt utility in the wake of public furor over repeated mass blackouts designed to prevent power lines from starting more devastating wildfires.

The shut-offs, which lasted for days in some locations, left as many as 2.8 million people in the dark last month, at the same time PG&E’s power lines may have sparked more fires.

Wiener said his proposal isn’t intended to compete with other efforts to transform PG&E.

He said the option should be considered alongside San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s push to create a customer-owned cooperative, which has the backing of more than 20 mayors, and San Francisco’s offer to buy PG&E’s local power lines and operate them.

“I don’t know what the ultimate result will be,” Wiener said. “But I do think that public power needs to be part of the conversation.”

PG&E has repeatedly pushed back in recent weeks against efforts to create a public utility or a customer co-op.

“We remain firmly convinced that a government or customer takeover is not the optimal solution that will address the challenges and serve the long-run interests of all customers in the communities we serve,” the utility said in a statement last week.

Spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin said it’s difficult to comment on Wiener’s proposal without seeing bill text. However, she said the company remains opposed to calls to sell its lines in urban areas.

“Government takeover of these assets would leave the remainder of PG&E’s customers to bear the higher costs of serving less-populated and heavily wooded areas, many of which come with increased wildfire risks,” Subbotin said in an email.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has also signaled he could support turning PG&E into a public utility, warning the company to resolve its bankruptcy case and improve its grid quickly or face state intervention.

Dustin Gardiner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dustingardiner