Why did San Francisco lose power today?

[BigmanPigman]

[regnaD kciN]

1. Apparently, a substation fire...

[Demobrat]

6. There was a fire, but it started after the outages began.

Makes me suspect sabotage, but that could be just me. I’m in the side that still has power. It’s out a few blocks away. Chinatown is dark.

[BigmanPigman]

8. As of 11 PM PG&E still doesn't know what caused it.

Power is slowly coming back.

?si=-ds6mVBaRQIkm7N5

[Demobrat]

9. The outages began at 9:30am. The fire was reported at 2:14pm.

Odd.

[BigmanPigman]

10. I know, it doesn't make sense

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. For those of us who don't live there,

can we have more details? Exactly how many San Franciscans lost power? Ten thousand, a million, more?

How long did the outage last? Ten minutes, ten hours?

Was San Francisco the only city in this country that lost power? And do we know why the power was lost?

So many questions, so few answers.

[usonian]

4. Chronicle

Last edited Sun Dec 21, 2025, 02:41 AM - Edit history (2)

They hate my ad-blocker.
Use the archive.
https://archive.ph/GHqYQ

sfgate, open access
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/san-francisco-power-outage-21254452.php

LATEST Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m.:Mayor Daniel Lurie said on his Instagram story that PG&E is assessing the damage at the power substation. "What is becoming very clear is that this is going to take a number of hours to restore the power, so I want everyone to prepare that this is going to go well into the early morning hours,” he said.

Laterest

LATEST Dec. 20, 10:12 p.m.: PG&E posted an update at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, saying 90,000 customers had power restored. The remaining 40,000 customers affected by the outage should have their power restored overnight.

Snapped 10:40 pm

[BigmanPigman]

5. Here you go...

SF: Update: 30% Of City Blacked Out As 130,000 Customers Lose Electricity https://share.google/493VvWR3YZxS623JU

"About 30 percent of San Francisco was blacked out Saturday, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said, as a power outage grew to about 130,000 customers."

[usonian]

3. You beat me to it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Thank you to all who updated me

on this story.