San Francisco Asks State Regulators for a Public Investigation of 40 PG&E Outages Since the December Blackout

San Francisco’s top officials asked the California Public Utilities Commission on October 8, 2026 to open a public investigation into PG&E’s reliability in the city, citing 40 large-scale power outages since the December 20 blackout. The letter, addressed to CPUC President John Reynolds, was signed by Mayor Daniel Lurie, the city attorney, the president of the Board of Supervisors and the general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, according to The San Francisco Standard. The San Francisco Chronicle also reported the request.

What the City Is Asking For

The CPUC says it is already investigating the December outage, but privately. The city wants a public investigation that covers every major outage since then, not only December. The Standard counts this as at least the third time the city has publicly pressed for that; the first similar letter went out in March. The letter says PG&E has shared “little information” about how a fire at one substation turned into a citywide blackout.

The Outages

The 40 outages in the city’s count each affected more than 1,000 customers, which works out to nearly one a week. More than a quarter hit the west side of the city, where the December blackout lasted longest. Examples from the letter, as reported by the Standard:

March 20: rolling blackouts from the Castro to Haight-Ashbury affected 14,000 customers.

July: an outage in the Richmond and the Presidio cut power to 9,500 customers, and two days later outages from Glen Park to Bernal Heights affected 12,000.

Many of the outage reports list the cause as “unknown.”

The December Blackout

On December 20, 2025, a failed circuit breaker at PG&E’s substation at Mission and 8th streets caused a fire. At its peak the outage left about a third of the city without power, and it lasted for days. PG&E CEO Sumeet Singh disclosed the cause at a February hearing called by Supervisor Bilal Mahmood. An independent report by the consulting firm Exponent, released in May, found that PG&E had not repaired a damaged insulating board that contributed to the short, five weeks after inspectors found it. Singh said PG&E has invested $200 million in rebuilding the substation.

Other Issues in the Letter

Vault fires: two fires in underground vaults downtown, caused by PG&E equipment, on September 17 and October 1. The October 1 fire closed roads and forced evacuations on several blocks.

Delayed projects: four PG&E infrastructure projects are behind schedule, including one in the southern part of the city that is on hold and eight years late.

Substation I: PG&E plans to sell this deactivated substation in SoMa, a block from the Mission and 8th site. The city had wanted to buy it.

The letter also questions whether PG&E’s equipment can keep up with the city’s growing demand for electricity.

What PG&E Says

PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian told the Standard the company is reviewing the letter and will respond “as appropriate.”

What Comes Next

The outage dispute runs alongside the city’s separate effort to buy PG&E’s local grid and run it as a public utility. In that case, PG&E is due to file its own valuation of its San Francisco electric assets with the CPUC by October 20; the city’s estimate is about $3.4 billion. Background on that process is in our explainer, San Francisco’s PG&E grid takeover. Mayor Lurie has not committed to whether a public takeover is viable, the Standard reports.

If your power goes out, PG&E’s outage map at pge.com shows reported outages and estimated restoration times.

Sources: The San Francisco Standard (October 8, 2026), San Francisco Chronicle (October 8, 2026), SFist (October 8, 2026).

Photo: PG&E’s Mission Substation at 1200 Mission Street. Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.