Some residents of San Francisco’s Sunset District experienced yet another power outage on Christmas Eve, rattling a neighborhood still reeling from a multi-day blackout that plunged one-third of the city into darkness last Saturday.
Around 8 p.m., a section of San Francisco near Ocean Beach lost power, according to the outage map from utility company Pacific Gas & Electric. The outage lasted roughly 15 to 25 minutes, based on accounts from multiple residents in the area.
However brief, the outage made an impact. Sunset Supervisor Alan Wong posted a video in the dark (opens in new tab) on social media criticizing PG&E, calling the outage the fourth in his district this month.
“We can’t have all these outages in my neighborhood all the time,” Wong said in the video. “It’s very disappointing and ridiculous.”
Wong has called for a hearing to demand answers from PG&E. His office also sent a statement to the press around 11 p.m. on Wednesday.
“This level of disruption is unacceptable,” Wong said in the statement. “In light of this latest outage, I will be asking city departments to evaluate what options may exist to strengthen oversight, reliability, and the long-term resilience of our electric system.”
Wong was appointed by Mayor Daniel Lurie last month and is running for reelection next June in a closely watched race.
Jessica Cen, a staffer in Wong’s office who lives near the Great Highway, said she was personally affected by the outage.
“When the power went out, I was thinking about cooking and was sitting on the sofa watching a movie with my mom,” Cen said in Cantonese. “If nearby families were in the middle of their Christmas Eve dinner, it could have caused real trouble.”
Neighborhood resident Lucas Lux, the president of Friends of Sunset Dunes, confirmed that power was restored before he and his son had time to walk out to see the lights out.
In a statement Thursday morning, PG&E called the outage storm-related, saying it impacted 3,853 customers at its peak. In the company’s parlance, a “customer” may refer to a single user or to a larger building with dozens of units.
“PG&E has been preparing for these storms using AI technology and our storm outage prediction model,” spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian said. “PG&E worked to restore power, safely and as quickly as possible.”
The company is facing stiff political headwinds, with lawmakers calling for San Francisco to re-evaluate its relationship with the embattled utility.