On Sunday evening, December 29, 2025, a wave of frustration swept through several San Francisco neighborhoods as more than 11,000 homes and businesses were plunged into darkness. The unplanned outage, which began around 7:45 p.m., affected residents in the Richmond District, Golden Gate Park, and the Presidio—areas already weary from a week of repeated power disruptions. By 10:15 p.m., most customers saw their lights flicker back on, but the incident marked the third significant outage in the city in just eight days, according to multiple reports from San Francisco Chronicle, ABC7 News, and NBC Bay Area.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the region’s primary utility provider, attributed Sunday’s blackout to a transformer fire near 12th Avenue and Balboa Street. The San Francisco Fire Department responded to the blaze, which left residents not only without power but also with a sense of déjà vu. Many had just endured a massive citywide outage on December 20 that left more than 130,000 customers in the dark for up to 48 hours. Repairs from that event were still underway when the latest incident struck.
This newest outage arrived at a particularly inopportune time. PG&E had already scheduled a planned outage for about 6,000 homes in the Richmond and Golden Gate Park neighborhoods between 11 p.m. and midnight the same night. The planned outage’s purpose? To switch residents back to grid power and remove the seven diesel generators that had been humming—and, according to neighbors, roaring—since December 22. Those generators had been deployed as a stopgap after the earlier substation fire at 8th and Mission, which triggered the initial citywide blackout.
"Temporary generators were deployed to maintain service during repairs, and we recognize their impact on the surrounding community. Our team has worked diligently on our plans to restore power safely and reliably without the use of generators," PG&E spokesperson Matt Nauman said in a statement Sunday evening, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. The company had notified customers by text, phone, and email to expect a one-hour planned outage during the transition.
For many Richmond residents, the noise and fumes from the generators were almost as disruptive as the outages themselves. Kathie Velazquez, who lives near 24th Avenue and Balboa Street, described her experience to the San Francisco Chronicle: "I get up in the middle of the night and think I can turn the volume down. When I go down to sleep, I am trembling." Some neighbors, especially those living closest to the generators, were offered temporary hotel stays to escape the relentless noise, highlighting the lengths PG&E went to mitigate the inconvenience.
Joseph Engh, a 55-year resident of the area, voiced his concerns about the ongoing situation to NBC Bay Area: "I'm a little scared because my eyes aren’t too good either, so I depend on a lot of batteries, so I was at Home Depot, and Costco [I] bought a bunch of batteries." For seniors and vulnerable residents, the outages were more than a nuisance—they posed real risks to health and safety.
The string of outages began on December 20, when a fire at the PG&E substation at 8th and Mission caused a major blackout affecting more than a third of San Francisco. Richmond residents were among the hardest hit, with some losing power for about 40 hours. In response, PG&E installed temporary generators at 24th Avenue and Balboa to serve approximately 6,000 customers. But even as repairs continued at the damaged substation, further complications arose. On December 28, around 6,000 customers in the Sunset District lost power for several hours, and on December 27, another outage in the Golden Gate Park area left thousands in the dark.
PG&E explained that Sunday’s unplanned outage was due to issues with transformers—equipment responsible for converting high-voltage electricity to the lower voltage used in homes. According to District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, the utility had communicated plans for the neighborhood’s transition back to grid power, but the unexpected transformer failure threw those plans into chaos. "The citywide power outage illustrates how a privatized utility company like PG&E can use its monopoly power to increase our bills, make profit on the backs of working people and still fail in its obligation to deliver power safely and reliably for San Francisco," Chan wrote on Instagram on December 23, as reported by Mission Local, echoing calls for the city to consider acquiring PG&E’s infrastructure.
PG&E’s response to the outages included offers of discounted hotel accommodations and up to $200 per day in food costs for affected families. Those who chose to stay home could file claims for up to $1,000. Businesses facing losses from the outages were eligible for up to $2,500 in compensation. These measures, while welcomed by some, did little to quell broader frustrations about the frequency and duration of recent outages.
Sunday’s events unfolded amid ongoing repairs at the 8th and Mission substation, with PG&E crews working around the clock to restore normal operations. The company acknowledged the “incredible inconvenience” caused to both residential and business customers. "This was a very serious situation; we know this resulted in some incredible inconvenience for customers, both residential and business, and we pledge to do everything we can to not have this happen again," said PG&E spokesperson Matt Nauman in comments reported by NBC Bay Area.
Throughout Christmas week, San Francisco was battered by a winter storm that brought heavy rain and strong winds, further complicating the city’s already fragile power infrastructure. At the peak of the storm-related outages, more than 130,000 PG&E customers were without electricity. The repeated disruptions have left many residents on edge, with some stocking up on batteries and emergency supplies in anticipation of future blackouts.
As of Monday, December 30, questions lingered about the reliability of San Francisco’s power grid and the adequacy of PG&E’s response. While most customers saw power restored relatively quickly after Sunday’s outage, the cumulative effect of three major outages in just over a week has shaken confidence in the city’s energy resilience. Local officials, residents, and business owners alike are now looking for answers—and, perhaps, for a more stable future.
For now, the city’s lights are back on, but the debate over how to keep them shining—safely, quietly, and reliably—shows no sign of dimming.
