SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco supervisors are calling for a hearing by the board into the massive power outage in the city last month. 

Calls for a hearing 

What we know:

Supervisor Alan Wong and other lawmakers say residents deserve answers about the outage on December 20, which, at its height, affected about a third of the city. 

Wong added that the credits offered by Pacific Gas and Electric are insufficient to cover lost food, wages and many other disruptions. The utility has offered customers and businesses impacted by the Dec. 20 blackout $200 and $2,500 respectively. 

Wong in a statement said power was gradually restored during the initial outage, but that periodic outages continued for several days and that full restoration was achieved on Dec. 23. 

“This was not a minor inconvenience,” said Sup. Wong. “Families lost heat in the middle of winter. Seniors were stranded in their homes. One of my constituents, a 95-year-old man who relies on a ventilator, had to be rushed to the hospital at 2 a.m. People watched their phones die, worried they would lose their only connection to 911.”

Wong’s office had sent the utility a letter after previous outages on Dec. 7 and Dec. 10, regarding the utility’s lack of reliability. The letter called the frequency of the outages unacceptable. 

PG&E agreed with Wong’s office’s characterization of service specific to the Sunset District and met with the supervisor.  

Despite this development, the root cause of the outage on Dec. 20, that impacted some 130,000 residents citywide, was due to a substation fire near Mission and 8th streets. That fire remains under investigation. 

Wong thanked fellow supervisors Bilal Mahmood, Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, and Myrna Melgar for co-sponsoring his request. The boardmembers have asked board President Rafael Mandelman to refer their request to the appropriate committee. 

Wong is separately submitting a letter of inquiry to the SF Public Utilities Commission requesting an analysis of cost and implementation of what it would take for San Francisco to have its own publicly-owned electrical grid. 

The other side:

A PG&E spokesperson addressed the board on Tuesday, asking for the hearing to be scheduled after they get results of an independent investigation. 

“We have hired an independent investigator company named Exponent to conduct a root-cause investigation. We are pushing for it to be completed as soon as possible with preliminary results by February which we will share with the city,” said Sarah Yoell with PG&E government affairs. “We are proud of our ongoing investments to serve San Francisco.” 

Yoell assured the utility would be transparent with whatever they find. 

PG&E added that they have met all state requirements and that they have a current Safety Certificate approved by OEIS (Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety). 

Loss of inventory

Abdul Alomari, co-owner of Ember Grill in the Tenderloin, said his business lost electricity during the massive outage. 

“It’s not just me. Across the street, all these restaurants here, nearby businesses. It hurst a lot of people. I’m just one small voice from so many people here that got hurt,” said Alomari. 

He plans to attend the PG&E hearing and said Tenderloin merchants already have a tough time. 

“Less people come here, the Tenderloin, Every single bit of help helps. It doesn’t help that every three months we get a power outage for four hours and we lose business,” said Alomari.

He said compensation from PG&E alone is not the answer. He wants reliability and stability. 

“That’s only short time if we have things like this happen all the time, eventually it’ll off set what we get,” Alomari said. 

Long-running Denver lunch spot Mr. Lucky’s Sandwiches, which closed in December after Denver’s Department of Finance seized its two locations, owes more than $40,000 in unpaid taxes, according to the city agency. Galen Juracek, who owns the shops in Capitol Hill and the Highland neighborhood, specifically owes $40,556.11.

Multiple notices posted to the door of Mr. Lucky’s Capitol Hill location showed that the city demanded payment for the back taxes starting in July. But the city’s “distraint warrant” — a legal notice that a business owner owes a specific amount, and that the business could be seized if they don’t pay it — notes the shops, at 711 E. 6th Ave. and 3326 Tejon St., were forced to close on Tuesday, Dec. 23.

Mr. Lucky’s had already decided it would close its two locations by the end of 2025, said Laura Swartz, communications director for the Department of Finance. But the city’s seizure of the business shows that it had not been keeping up on basic requirements, with a $39,956 bill for unpaid sales taxes and $600.11 in “occupational privilege” taxes, which fund local services and allow a business to operate within a specific area.

“When businesses charge customers sales tax but then do not submit that sales tax to the city, the city is responsible for becoming involved,” she said in an email to The Denver Post

Juracek did not respond to multiple phone calls from The Denver Post requesting comment. His business, which is described on its website as a “go-to spot for handcrafted sandwiches since 1999, roasting our meats in-house and making every bite unforgettable,” is listed on the documents as G&J Concepts.