PG&E power outage in San Francisco affecting over 100,000 customers and BART system

By Jose Fabian

Multiple San Francisco neighborhoods were affected by a power outage on Saturday afternoon, according to PG&E’s website.

The outage map showed The Presidio, Seacliff, Outer and Inner Richmond, Golden Gate Park, the Panhandle, Inner and Outer Sunset, and part of West of Twin Peaks as being affected. Parts of the Western Addition and Downtown were also shown as being part of the power outage.

Just before 3 p.m., PG&E’s website stated that about 30% of the city was without power.

The first power outage started around 9:40 a.m.

At about 3:15 p.m., the San Francisco Fire Department said it was working a one-alarm fire at PG&E’s substation located at 8th and Mission streets. Fire crews said they were working to shut down power and extinguish the fire with carbon dioxide.

PG&E has not said what may have caused the outage.  

BART said the Powell Street and the Civic Center stations were closed due to the power outage, but have since reopened. Muni said its trains were not getting into the Muni Metro and Central Subway due to the outage. 

“If you don’t need to travel tonight, please stay off the roads and stay inside,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said. 

Lurie added that more officers will be at intersections and corridors to ensure safety. 

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said the outage may be affecting traffic lights, and drivers should treat the intersections as four-way stops.

Waymo said it temporarily suspended its services in the city due to the outage.

PG&E said that nearly 130,000 customers in San Francisco were without power.

According to its website, power restoration was estimated to be around 3:45 p.m. for some areas and undetermined for other parts of the city. However, despite what the website says, PG&E said in a statement that it’s not able to confirm when power will be restored. 

The utility company said its crews stabilized the grid and did not expect any more outages.