Tens of thousands of San Francisco residents experienced a widespread power outage on Saturday, but service has now been largely restored. The disruption, which affected nearly a third of the city, left neighborhoods in darkness for hours before crews from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) worked through the night to restore electricity.
Initial Disruption and Spread
The outage began early Saturday evening, initially impacting roughly 124,000 customers. By Sunday morning, this number had dropped to approximately 24,000, according to data from PowerOutage.com. The affected areas spanned the northern half of the city, including the Richmond, Sunset, and Haight-Ashbury districts. Even downtown San Francisco and City Hall were affected.
Impact on Daily Life
The blackout forced the closure of stores and public transit stations. Autonomous vehicle services like Waymo temporarily halted operations, and cultural events were canceled—including a performance of “The Nutcracker” by the San Francisco Ballet. Residents adapted by using phone flashlights to navigate streets, while some restaurants continued serving meals by candlelight.
The Role of the Substation Fire
A fire at a PG&E substation in the South Market neighborhood was confirmed as a contributing factor to the outage by San Francisco Fire Department spokesman Lt. Mariano Elías. However, whether this fire was the sole cause remains unclear. Outages were reported even before the fire broke out, and the number of affected customers surged around the same time. This suggests multiple factors may have played a role.
Infrastructure Concerns
This incident raises questions about the resilience of San Francisco’s electrical grid. The rapid spread of outages before and during the substation fire points to potential vulnerabilities in the system. Aging infrastructure and the increasing strain from urban development could be exacerbating such risks. PG&E has yet to release a full assessment of the event.
The power has been restored, but the incident underscores the importance of grid modernization and proactive infrastructure maintenance to prevent future widespread disruptions.
