San Francisco emerged from a significant citywide power disruption that left approximately 130,000 residences and businesses without electricity for several hours during one of the busiest shopping weekends before Christmas. Utility provider Pacific Gas & Electric Company confirmed through an official statement on social media platform X that service had been successfully restored to about 110,000 customers by 7:30 AM local time on Sunday, with ongoing efforts to address the remaining 21,000 affected connections.
The extensive blackout originated from a substantial fire at a critical substation facility, causing what company representatives described as ‘significant and extensive’ damage. ‘The repairs and safe restoration will be complex,’ the utility noted, indicating they had mobilized additional engineering and electrical crews to accelerate recovery operations.
With the city’s population exceeding 800,000, the outage created widespread disruptions across the metropolitan area. Public transportation systems experienced delays while numerous traffic signals ceased functioning, requiring police personnel to manually direct vehicles at key intersections. The automated vehicle service Waymo preemptively suspended its self-driving ride-hailing operations as a safety precaution.
Adding to the challenging circumstances, dense fog settled over parts of the city, creating reduced visibility conditions alongside the power emergency. Numerous retail establishments faced forced closures during what would typically be their highest revenue period, transforming normally vibrant commercial districts into unusually quiet areas. Local merchants reported devastating financial impacts from the unexpected loss of last-minute Christmas shoppers, with one home goods store manager describing the timing as particularly catastrophic for business operations.
Mayor Daniel Lurie acknowledged the severity of the situation in a video statement released from the city’s emergency operations center, recognizing the particular hardship created by the timing during holiday celebrations and economic activities.