PG&E Gives Monday Afternoon Deadline for Full Power Restoration After Huge Outage

Update, 6:30 p.m. Sunday: PG&E said Sunday it expects to have power restored by 2:00 p.m. Monday for all remaining customers still in the dark after Saturday’s massive power outage.

As of 6:25 p.m. Sunday, about 13,000 customers were still without power, predominantly in the Presidio and the Richmond District.

At its peak, the outage plunged 130,000 households and businesses into darkness on the last Saturday before Christmas.

Susan Molthen runs a restaurant in the city and said it had a terrible impact on the business.

“I had a party of over 15-16 people [Saturday] night and I had to call them all to cancel, and I’m out ‘X’ amount of money,” Molthen said. “This is my livelihood and I can’t open. It’s horrible.”

In a video posted to X, Mayor Daniel Lurie said his office was planning to send resources to the areas. A PG&E spokesperson said the company is communicating directly with impacted customers to provide food and hotel vouchers. It also set up a community resource center at the Richmond Recreation Center with charging stations, bottled water and WiFi access.

“This is a very complex workplan and will require the highest amount of safety [and] focus to ensure safe work actions,” PG&E spokesperson Edgar Hopida said, adding that the company has sent additional engineers and electricians to the city.

The new timeline comes after hours of uncertainty for thousands still left without power. Lurie said in the Sunday video he was “pushing PG&E hard for a timeline on full restoration.”

The company said it was investigating the cause of the outage, but that a fire at one of its substations Saturday afternoon appeared to be associated with the large spike in customers without power.

The San Francisco Fire Department said it started receiving 911 calls about the fire around 1:00 p.m. Saturday. By 6:00 p.m. they had extinguished the blaze and turned the building over to PG&E.

No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

PG&E said the damage to the substation was “ significant and extensive” and that repairs would be complex.
Fire officials said it was unclear whether the fire was the “root cause” of the outages, with some losing power much earlier Saturday morning.

On Sunday, Sunset Supervisor Alan Wong called for a public hearing on the incident.
In a statement, Wong said that Sunset homes and businesses experienced outages earlier this month, prompting him to send PG&E a formal letter on Dec. 11 “requesting detailed information regarding the cause of the outages, how the disruptions escalated, and gaps in communication with the public.”

Wong said he has yet to receive a substantive reply.

San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan said Sunday she, too, wants transparency.

“It’s a glaring example that illustrates a privatized company like PG&E keep[s] increasing our energy bill, and yet still be able to get away from the obligation [of] delivering reliable and safe power to a city like San Francisco,” Chan said.

PG&E did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the statements from Wong and Chan, but the company has apologized for the disruption caused by the outage.

The incident snarled traffic and transit throughout the city Saturday evening, leading to traffic jams, BART station closures and delays on public transportation. Waymo had halted operations across the Bay Area Saturday after its driverless taxis were seen stranded in city intersections amid the chaos. The driverless taxi company said Sunday evening operations had resumed.