On Saturday, December 20, a significant power outage in San Francisco left 130,000 customers without power for several hours. The blackout affected neighborhoods across the city, with a focus on the northwestern corner. These include Sunset, Richmond, Presidio, Haight, Pacific Heights, and more. PG&E restored power to large portions of the city by 11 pm on Saturday night, but many areas, including Richmond and the Presidio, remain without power as of Sunday evening, leaving approximately 17,000 without power.
As a result of the ongoing outage, PG&E has opened a community resource center at 251 18th Avenue, San Francisco. People impacted by the outage can charge devices at the resource center, take snacks and water, and take advantage of heating. The center will be open from 5 pm to midnight today and will be open 8 am to 10 pm tomorrow.
As of Sunday evening, PG&E estimates that power will be restored on Monday afternoon at 2 pm, two full days after the initial outage. Yesterday afternoon, a PG&E substation on Mission and 8th experienced a fire, and PG&E is reporting that a fire at a substation caused “extensive damage,” leaving complex repairs. Thankfully, the utility company has reported that no staff or members of the public were injured due to the fire.
There are also some outages just across the bridge in the East Bay, although they are not as widespread as the San Francisco outages. The East Bay outages are estimated to be resolved by the end of tonight, Sunday, December 21.
PG&E is currently posting updates on X regarding the situation, and you can also find information via the outage map here. Due to the outage, traffic lights may be out of service, so be cautious when driving and when walking. If you need additional assistance during the outage, call 211 for options.