San Francisco Sunset District businesses plan PG&E lawsuit after December 2025 blackout, seeking broader compensation for losses
Small businesses prepare legal action after widespread December outage
A group of San Francisco small business owners, many concentrated in the Sunset District, is preparing to sue Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) over losses tied to a major power outage that began on December 20, 2025, and a subsequent string of blackouts that continued into January 2026. Attorneys involved in the effort have said they expect at least 40 businesses to participate.
The December 20 outage began after a fire at PG&E’s Mission Substation near Eighth and Mission streets. At its peak, about 130,000 customers in San Francisco lost power. Electricity was restored to most customers within the first day, but full restoration across affected areas was not completed until early Tuesday, December 23, 2025.
Financial stakes and the limits of automatic credits
For impacted customers, PG&E announced automatic bill credits: $200 for residential accounts and approximately $2,500 for business accounts tied to the December 20 incident. The credits were structured as immediate relief that did not require customers to submit documentation.
Business owners organizing the lawsuit argue that these automatic credits do not reflect the full scope of losses. Merchants have described impacts that can include lost sales during peak holiday shopping, spoiled perishable inventory, interrupted production, and labor costs for staff who could not work as planned. City officials have publicly estimated the overall economic impact of the outage on San Francisco businesses in the tens of millions of dollars, though no comprehensive audited total has been released.
Claims process and documentation hurdles
PG&E has also maintained a separate claims process for customers seeking compensation beyond the automatic credits. The utility has stated that claims are evaluated based on supporting documentation and its investigation of the incident, and that review time varies with complexity. In late January 2026, PG&E reported that it had received more than 2,600 claims related to the December outage and said a majority had been resolved.
Some merchants have said the process can be difficult to navigate, particularly for owners facing language barriers or limited access to printing and record-keeping systems. In response, PG&E representatives have conducted in-person outreach in the Sunset District, meeting with businesses along several commercial corridors to discuss claims and provide multilingual materials.
Ongoing outages add pressure for answers
The planned lawsuit is unfolding against a backdrop of additional power interruptions on San Francisco’s west side after the December 20 event, including outages affecting parts of the Richmond and Sunset districts. While these later outages were smaller and shorter than the citywide blackout, they have intensified scrutiny of service reliability and the utility’s response.
Dec. 20, 2025: Mission Substation fire triggers citywide outage affecting about 130,000 customers.
Dec. 23, 2025: PG&E reports full restoration for remaining affected customers.
Late Dec. 2025–Jan. 2026: additional localized outages affect west-side neighborhoods, prompting merchant outreach and renewed calls for accountability.
The legal action is expected to focus on recovering monetary damages tied to business losses during the December outage and subsequent disruptions, while PG&E continues processing claims and investigating the cause of the substation fire.