Power continues to be restored to tens of thousands of San Francisco businesses and residences following a Saturday outage that affected some 130,000 customers, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E).
The outage was caused by a fire at an electrical substation, according to PG&E.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – DECEMBER 20: A view of traffic from above as more than 130,000 PG&E customers were without power in San Francisco, California, United States on Dec. 20, 2025. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Anadolu via Getty Images
By Sunday morning, power had been restored to about 110,000 customers, PG&E said. The remaining 21,000 customers were located primarily in the Presidio, Richmond District, Golden Gate Park and small areas of downtown San Francisco, according to the utility.
While the damage to the substation was “significant and extensive,” there were no injures to PG&E workers or the public, PG&E said.
“The damage from the fire in our substation was extensive and the repairs and safe restoration will be complex. We will continue working until all customers are restored,” PG&E said in an early afternoon update Sunday. “We encourage customers to be safe.”
The first outages were reported at around 1 p.m. Saturday, according to PG&E, with the grid stabilized by 4:30 p.m., halting any additional outages. Fire officials brought the substation fire under control by 6 p.m., according to San Francisco ABC station KGO.
San Francisco firefighters break open a to rescue employees stuck inside a store due to the power outage in San Francisco on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. The store had to close early due to a power outage. (Photo by Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
San Francisco Chronicle/hearst N/San Francisco Chronicle via Gett
The blackout occurred when the city was teeming with tourists and holiday shoppers. The lack of power snarled traffic throughout the affected areas as traffic signals remained inoperative.
“The Saturday before Christmas is historically once of the busiest shopping days of the year,” San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Matt Dorsey told KGO. “This is the worst time that PG&E could have a problem.”
The cause of the substation fire remains under investigation, according to PG&E.