Supervisors Alan Wong and Bilal Mahmood to Hold Hearings on December 2025 Citywide Power Outages
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 5, 2026) – District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong and District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood will hold public hearings to examine the widespread power outages caused by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) that affected San Francisco in December 2025, including the citywide blackout that left more than one-third of the city without power just days before the holidays.
Supervisor Wong will lead a hearing during the Board of Supervisors’ Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee on Thursday, February 12, at 11:00 a.m. District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood is a co-sponsor of the hearing, which will focus on the economic impacts on affected residents and businesses, available remedies and compensation mechanisms, gaps in current support structures, and emergency response coordination and communication. The hearing is also co-sponsored by District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, and District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter. The committee is chaired by District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who is also a co-sponsor of the hearing.
The December outages disrupted homes, small businesses, and essential services across multiple neighborhoods and raised serious concerns about emergency response coordination, communication failures, and the resilience of San Francisco’s electric infrastructure. While some outages were localized, others escalated rapidly, resulting in prolonged service interruptions across large portions of the city.
“San Franciscans deserve clear answers and a concrete plan to prevent outages of this scale from happening again,” said Supervisor Alan Wong. “A citywide blackout is not just an inconvenience. It exposes serious gaps in reliability, communication, and emergency response. This hearing is about understanding what went wrong and what needs to change to protect our city.”
PG&E leadership will speak on response timelines, communication gaps, customer support measures, and the causes of the outages. PG&E has indicated that it expects to provide ongoing updates at future meetings until all outstanding questions related to infrastructure failures and system reliability have been addressed.
A separate hearing, led by Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, will be heard at the Land Use and Transportation Committee on March 2 at 1:30 p.m. The hearing, co-sponsored by Supervisor Alan Wong, will focus on how the same December 2025 power outages affected Waymo operations and traffic safety. Supervisor Mahmood and colleagues will focus on the impact autonomous vehicles had on the City’s emergency response and the ability for public safety personnel to interact with Waymo vehicles in emergency situations.
“We heard from residents, businesses, and City departments that PG&E and Waymo’s handling of this outage was unacceptable,” said Supervisor Bilal Mahmood. “We want to send a clear message that San Francisco expects accountability and the highest standards from its services and road users, and that improvements are needed from the first non-functioning stoplight to the last refund check.”
Supervisors Wong and Mahmood announced plans for the hearings on December 22, following a fire at PG&E’s Mission Substation that triggered cascading outages citywide. In the weeks surrounding the blackout, residents and businesses experienced repeated disruptions, inconsistent restoration estimates, and challenges accessing timely information and assistance. The hearings are intended to inform next steps and ensure the City and utility providers are better prepared to protect residents and essential services during future emergencies.
