SF residents, business owners say PG&E bill credits are 'not enough' after blackout

San Francisco residents, business owners speak after PG&E outages

Residents and business owners in San Francisco's Sunset District are calling on PG&E to increase bill credits after recent power outages.

SAN FRANCISCO - Residents and business owners in San Francisco's Sunset District are calling on PG&E to increase bill credits following a massive power outage that left 125,000 customers without power just days before Christmas. 

The power outage occurred Dec. 20 after a fire sparked that afternoon at a PG&E substation at 8th and Mission streets.

Last week, PG&E announced automatic bill credits for residential and business customers impacted by the blackout, $200 and $2,500, respectively. 

PG&E bill credits are not enough, residents say

What they're saying:

Residents and business owners spoke outside Uncle Benny's Café in the Sunset on Monday, saying the credits PG&E has offered aren't enough.

"Two-hundred dollars doesn't cut it. It's not enough, it's not close to enough to help recovery," said homeowner David Lee, who led the Monday press conference.

Lee, and fellow residents, are asking for residential credits to be increased to $500 and business credits to $5,000.

Lee also noted difficulties with PG&E's claim form, saying it's "burdensome" for Chinese language speakers in the Sunset. 

"This form is very burdensome to many people, especially Chinese language speakers, of which there are many here in the Sunset District and many of our small businesses, which are immigrant-owned and are Chinese speakers," Lee said.

He's calling on the utility to "streamline" the form to make it easier for businesses to file.

Power fully restored in San Francisco after massive weekend outage: PG&E

PG&E on Tuesday said all power has been fully restored to San Francisco customers following a massive outage that drew international attention over the weekend.

San Francisco business impact

Local perspective:

Power was restored for customers by Dec. 23, three days after the blackout began. 

The owner of Loaf HK Bakery and Restaurant said he lost over half his usual business during the outage. 

"That day and we lost over half our business," he said. "Saturday is our most busy day. It's the weekend right before Christmas. You know, it's like everybody's coming in and then just like that, just nothing."

The bakery owner said $2,500 is not enough to make up for the losses that day. 

In addition to the residential and small business impact, the PG&E outage caused widespread disruptions to San Francisco transit and traffic. The blackout stalled BART trains at the Powell Street, Civic Center and Van Ness stations and halted Waymo service across the city.

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