Outage Darkens Chinatown, North Beach, Parts of Financial District

SAN FRANCISCO-More than 2,150 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers in Chinatown, North Beach and part of the financial district lost power for two hours Thursday morning. The outage comes one day after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit in which PG&E sought $10 billion from California ratepayers in order to recoup money spent buying electricity on the costly wholesale market last year.

A similar federal case filed by Southern California Edison is on hold while Edison negotiates a rescue plan with Gov. Gray Davis that would includes the state buying the utility’s transmission lines for $2.7 billion. Since last June, the two utilities say they have lost more than $14 billion because of skyrocketing wholesale power prices, and PG&E recently filed for bankruptcy protection.

PG&E spokesperson Jennifer Ramp tells GlobeSt the outage occurred when one of the circuits that lead from the Mission Street substation failed. The substation feeds NorthBeach and Chinatown, but also apparently feeds the financial district because Marcus & Millichap tells GlobeSt its offices at Broadway and Battery lost power.