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Timeline shifts for full PG&E power restoration in San Francisco
Power restoration in San Francisco stretched on for days as PG&E crews worked to fully restore service to customers following a massive outage.
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie on Monday voiced frustration with Pacific Gas and Electric after a massive power outage left about 130,000 customers without electricity over the weekend and the utility shifted its restoration timeline.
Power was restored to most of the city by Monday, but 3,800 customers were still without service. PG&E said it expects power to be restored to those customers by 6 a.m. Tuesday, after originally projecting full restoration by Monday afternoon.
Lurie questions utility’s timeline
What they're saying:
"Listen, it’s not going well. We were told by 2 p.m. today we would have full restoration of power, and now we are being told that timeline has been pushed back," Lurie said. "They gave us a timeline they believed in, but it's not one we can have confidence in any longer. We don't have full faith that 6 am is the time tomorrow."
Power restored to much of San Francisco
Power remained out for roughly 3,800 homes and businesses in San Francisco on Monday morning following a massive outage that darkened the city, caused food to rot and Waymo cars to stall without traffic lights over the weekend.
PG&E acknowledges errors in updates
At an afternoon news conference Monday, PG&E COO Sumeet Singh acknowledged that several alerts sent to customers about restoration timelines were inaccurate.
"I certainly appreciate the emotion and the lived experience," Sing said, promising to "do right" by businesses that lost money and customers just days before Christmas. "We're going to do right by our customers and leave no customers behind."
Mission Street substation fire
What we know:
PG&E said the outage was caused by a fire at a Mission Street substation.
The utility said preventive maintenance work at the substation was completed in October, and the facility was inspected just over two weeks ago, on Dec. 5.
Singh outlined a timeline of events, saying the fire broke out shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday.
The outage peaked about three hours later, around 4 p.m., when the power shutdown because PG&E had to "de-energize" the system to make it safe for firefighters, before utility crews could restore power.
Cause of fire under investigation
What we don't know:
Singh said the damage inside the substation was extensive, including a critical circuit breaker that protects electrical circuits by interrupting current flow during a fire.
As for what caused the fire, Singh said the investigation is ongoing.
"We do not know yet the root cause of the fire," Singh said.
Singh said PG&E has hired a third-party engineering firm, Exponent, to investigate the cause.
"We will ensure this never happens again," Singh said.