New PG&E Power Outages Reported In San Francisco, Lafayette
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The day after thousands of Bay Area residents lost electricity during Tuesday's blazing hot spell, two new PG&E outages were being reported Wednesday afternoon.
According to the outage map on PG&E's website, an outage affecting over 4,000 customers in an area of Contra Costa County stretching northeast from Moraga into Lafayette was first reported shortly before 3 p.m.
At around the same time, a second large outage was reported in San Francisco affecting Japantown and Cathedral Hill that was impacting just under 4,000 customers.
There were also additional outages being reported in the northeastern section of the city including North Beach that the SFMTA Twitter account posted about at around 3:15 p.m., cautioning drivers to treat intersections with inoperative traffic lights as four-way stops.
The PG&E website said crews were investigating the cause and listed the estimated time the outages would be resolved as 5:45 p.m. or 6 p.m.
A statewide Flex Alert was issued Tuesday by the California Independent System Operator Corporation, calling for voluntary electricity conservation from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Customers were urged to conserve electricity during the hot Tuesday afternoon, a time when air conditioners are typically at peak use. Because of the widespread use of the appliances, ISO said it anticipates energy demand reaching a peak of 42,8000 megawatts Tuesday evening.
