Power restored to about 114,000 San Francisco customers after widespread outage

About 16,000 PG&E customers in San Francisco were still without power Sunday after a massive power outage left about a third of the city in the dark Saturday, the utility company said.

In an update Sunday morning, PG&E said it had restored power to 110,000 customers. By the afternoon, service was restored to approximately 4,000 additional customers. Those without power were in the Presidio, the Richmond District, Golden Gate Park and small areas of downtown.

According to the utility company, a fire broke out at one of its substations and caused “significant and widespread” damage.

“Repairs and safe restoration will be complex,” PG&E said. “We have mobilized additional engineers and electricians.”

In an update at 2 p.m., PG&E said it expects all customers affected by the substation outage to have power no later than Monday at 2 p.m.

“I have been in contact with community leaders in these neighborhoods and we are working to bring resources directly to these communities,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said. “We will continue to press PG&E for a firm timetable for restoring full power.”

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Services said PG&E would set up a community resource center, staffed by the city, for people without power in anticipation of a wave of heavy rains expected in an atmospheric river. It will be open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will be located at 251 18th Avenue in the Richmond Rec Center. After Sunday, it will be open every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Around 12:30 p.m., Lurie said he was in the Richmond District to check in with local residents and businesses, and that there was a small business outreach plan to let businesses know they can file claims with PG&E.

“Some customers are starting to have power thanks to PG&E restoring power to 4,000 additional homes, but there are still 17,000 customers without power. If you have an impacted small business, you can file a claim at http://pge.com/claim,” Lurie said.

At the peak of the outage, the utility company said about 130,000 customers were affected.

Municipal disruptions

Muni service along the Market Street subway was affected due to the power outage, according to Muni alerts from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

Muni riders affected by the service interruption can use BART for free between Embarcadero and Civic Center, BART said.

“Consult a station agent for entry,” BART said.

Waymo suspends its service

The self-driving technology company suspended its robotaxi services during the power outage.

The company announced Sunday that it was resuming ride-hailing services.

“Although Waymo Driver is designed to handle non-functional signals like four-way stops, the magnitude of the outage led to instances where vehicles remained stopped longer than usual to confirm the status of the affected intersections,” Waymo said. “This contributed to traffic friction at the height of traffic jams.”