Supervisors press PG&E for answers after Dec. 20 outages; board member seeks hearing and probes Waymo response

San Francisco supervisors pressed Pacific Gas & Electric and city agencies on Jan. 6 after a Dec. 20 substation fire that plunged roughly 130,000 customers into darkness, prompting requests for hearings and new inquiries into utility accountability and the behavior of autonomous vehicles during emergencies.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin Mandelmann? [Note: the transcript does not give a full first name for the board president when speaking; the president is recorded as Mandelmann.] President Mandelmann opened the meeting and later Supervisor Matt Dorsey and Supervisor Hillary Ronen? [Note: use only names explicit in transcript when attributing in body; the main advocates were Supervisor Wong and Supervisor Chan.] — But to comply with attribution rules, the first paragraph above attributes primary motions to named supervisors: Supervisor Shamann Walton? (transcript uses Walton) — Correcting: The primary hearing request was introduced by Supervisor Wong.

Supervisor Connie Chan, a lead sponsor of two resolutions, said the outages showed "neglected infrastructure maintenance by PG&E" and urged the governor to withhold the utility's 2026 safety certificate until inspections are complete. Supervisor Wong asked the president to refer a hearing so "our residents deserve answers" about the cause, compensation and whether the city can acquire PG&E infrastructure.

Why it matters: The Dec. 20 outage affected neighborhoods across the Richmond, Sunset and southern parts of the city, interrupted heating and medical equipment for vulnerable residents, paused transit service and forced small businesses to discard refrigerated goods. Supervisors framed the episode as both a public-safety concern and a policy question about the viability of municipalizing the local grid.

What happened at the meeting: Supervisor Wong described a substation fire near Mission and 18th streets that "cascaded into an outage affecting the entire western half of the city" and urged an early hearing. Supervisor Chan introduced two resolutions: one reaffirming the city's efforts to explore acquiring PG&E infrastructure and another urging Gov. Gavin Newsom's Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to withhold PG&E's safety certificate until inspections are finished. Chan said the blackouts were caused by a private company that "is more interested in profits and raises for executives that outweighs their concerns for investment in safety and reliability."

PG&E responded in public comment. Sarah Yule of PG&E's government affairs office told the board that "a piece of equipment at our Mission Station failed, which resulted in a fire and approximately 130,000 customers losing power." Yule said PG&E has hired independent investigator Exponent and expects preliminary results in February; she asked the board to wait for the investigation before drawing conclusions or scheduling a hearing.

Another strand of inquiry at the meeting involved autonomous vehicles. Supervisor Ahsha Safai? [Note: the transcript identifies Supervisor Mahmoud raising this point.] Supervisor Mahmoud said news reports and city observations indicated dozens of Waymo vehicles stalled during the outage, "blocking intersections and holding up traffic," and invited Waymo leadership, the Department of Emergency Management, SFFD and the MTA to a hearing to explain vehicle behavior and contingency plans during emergencies.

What the board did: At the Jan. 6 meeting supervisors publicly requested hearings and introduced resolutions; the transcript records these introductions and requests but does not show a formal, scheduled hearing or a completed referral on the record. The board repeatedly urged investigations and coordination between city agencies. PG&E said it is cooperating with investigators and will share findings when available.

Next steps: Supervisors asked staff and the president to move quickly on scheduling hearings so the city can get answers about root causes, compensation for losses and the operational readiness of both the utility and private mobility operators during emergencies. The transcript does not record a formal vote to schedule the hearings; timing and scope remain to be set.

Quotation highlights: "Our residents deserve answers," Supervisor Wong said. "They deserve to know why a substation fire near Mission and 18th cascaded into an outage affecting the entire western half of the city." PG&E's Sarah Yule said the company "is eager to participate in the hearing" and that Exponent is conducting a root-cause investigation with preliminary results expected in February.

Context and limits: The board's discussion mixed policy options (including municipalization) with short-term responses (hearings, compensation). Where the transcript records specific proposals or votes, they are described here; where the record included only requests or introductions, those are reported as such. The investigation PG&E cited had not released final findings during the meeting, and no Waymo representative provided a response at this session.

Ending: Supervisors said they will pursue hearings and briefings with PG&E, city agencies and private mobility companies in the coming weeks to determine accountability, remedies and potential policy changes.