San Francisco Power Outage Leaves City in Darkness as Tens of Thousands Lose Electricity

On Saturday afternoon, just as San Francisco was easing into the rhythm of holiday weekend shopping and winter gatherings, the city abruptly slipped into darkness. Storefronts went black, traffic lights blinked out, and neighborhoods from the western edge of the city to its bustling downtown found themselves unexpectedly disconnected from the power grid. For many residents, the outage felt sudden and disorienting — a reminder of how quickly modern life can be brought to a standstill.

The first signs of trouble appeared quietly. Flickering lights and appliances shutting off without warning were reported by some residents. Within hours, the scale of the disruption became clear. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) confirmed that tens of thousands of customers were without power, with the total number eventually exceeding 100,000 at its peak. Entire blocks across the Richmond, Sunset, Presidio, and central neighborhoods sat in near silence, interrupted only by the hum of emergency vehicles and the chatter of people gathering outside.

As daylight faded, a critical development emerged: a fire had broken out at a PG&E substation near 8th and Mission Streets. Fire crews moved quickly to contain the blaze, preventing injuries or major structural damage, but the incident appeared to be closely linked to the cascading power failures rippling across the city. While officials stopped short of confirming the fire as the sole cause, it became a focal point of the unfolding investigation.

The blackout reshaped the city’s pace almost instantly. Traffic snarled as drivers cautiously navigated intersections where signals had gone dark. Transit systems faltered. Several underground BART stations temporarily closed, and portions of the city’s rail lines experienced delays or service suspensions. Even San Francisco’s cutting-edge technology felt the strain: autonomous vehicles were pulled from service as safety concerns mounted in the absence of functioning traffic controls.

For businesses, the timing could not have been worse. The Saturday before Christmas is typically one of the busiest days of the year, yet restaurants were forced to close early, cafés turned customers away, and retailers locked doors with shelves half-stocked and registers unusable. Streets that normally glowed with holiday lights were left dim and subdued, stripping the season of some of its usual warmth.

Inside homes, residents improvised. Candles flickered in living rooms. Battery-powered lanterns were pulled from closets. Neighbors checked on one another, sharing updates and offering phone chargers or spare flashlights. Some saw the moment as an inconvenience; others experienced it as unsettling, especially those relying on electric medical devices or living in older buildings where backup systems were limited.

By mid-afternoon, city officials had started working on emergency coordination, urging motorists to avoid unnecessary travel and reminding residents to use less electricity. Refrigerators were kept shut, appliances unplugged, and patience tested as restoration estimates shifted throughout the evening.

Gradually, signs of recovery appeared. By late Saturday night, power began returning to large portions of the city. Apartment lights flickered back on, businesses reopened briefly to secure their premises, and transit services resumed in stages. The majority of affected customers, according to PG&E, had their power restored before midnight, but tens of thousands were still without power into the early hours of Sunday, particularly in western areas. The outage did not occur in isolation. Much of the western United States had been grappling with severe winter weather in the days leading up to Saturday, placing additional strain on aging infrastructure. While investigators continue to assess whether weather conditions contributed to the failure, the event reignited broader questions about grid resilience in a city that prides itself on innovation.

By Sunday morning, San Francisco was largely back online, but the memory of the blackout lingered. Conversations turned to preparedness, infrastructure investment, and how a city so dependent on electricity can better protect itself from sudden disruption. For a few hours on a winter afternoon, San Francisco slowed, adapted, and reminded itself that even in a high-tech era, darkness can arrive without warning.