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.
The power went out at 9:50 a.m. and came back on around noon, Ramp tells GlobeSt. The cause of the outage was not immediately available.
PG&E Corp. on Wednesday reported a first-quarter loss of $951 million, or $2.62 a share. The bad news follows a fourth-quarter loss of $4.1 billion. Both quarters' bad news is being attributed to the power crisis. Also Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante reportedly sued five wholesalers--Duke Energy, Dynegy Inc., Mirant Inc., Reliant Energy Inc. and Williams Cos.--claiming they conspired to drive up power prices.
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