PG&E is under investigation following recent fires at its substations that caused power outages and drew criticism. State audits in 2025 revealed numerous safety and maintenance violations, including missing equipment, leaks, and nesting birds, prompting calls for the utility to become customer-owned.
Two recent fires at PG&E substations cut power to thousands, drew condemnation from members of Congress, and spotlighted a year full of safety and maintenance violations atparalyzed many Waymo robotaxisOakland-headquartered PG&E said this week that both incidents were under investigation.
Substations take in high-voltage electricity from transmission lines and reduce it to a lower voltage that can be safely carried by distribution lines to homes and businesses. Inspectors from the California Public Utilities Commission found a jury-rigged contraption for filling leaking electrical equipment at a PG&E substation in Half Moon Bay, California, during a February 2025 audit of the facility. State audits in 2025 of PG&E substations in the Bay Area that found problems including missing fire extinguishers, oil leaks, non-functional cooling fans, loose wires, holes where bolts should be, and birds nesting in electrical equipment. “PG&E has underinvested in safety,” South Bay Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said after looking at audit results. “This just confirms that we need to make PG&E a California customer-owned utility, not investor owned.” Inspectors from the California Public Utilities Commission found missing bolts at the base of a transmission tower in a PG&E substation in Belmont, California, during a February 2025 audit. The utility said in a statement this week that it is “committed to adhering to compliance standards, taking immediate corrective actions when issues arise, and operating in a manner that prioritizes public and coworker safety.”Big Tech blocks California data center rules, leaving only a study requirementThe California Public Utilities Commission typically audits each of PG&E’s five regions — the North Coast, Sierra, Bay Area, Central Coast, and Central Valley — every five years. During audits of PG&E substations in January and May of 2025 by California’s utility regulator, inspectors found oil leaks in San Jose, Gilroy, Saratoga, Cupertino and Redwood City; bolts missing from the base of a transmission tower in Belmont and from a circuit-breaker structure in San Carlos; a contraption in Half Moon Bay for refilling leaking equipment, involving a 55-gallon drum with four large rocks on top of it and a tube running up into a bank of electrical transformers; and a total of seven cooling fans not working in San Jose, and six non-operational in Cupertino. Battery corrosion was found at substations in Santa Clara, Cupertino, Morgan Hill, Millbrae and San Francisco. Fire extinguishers were missing from one of the utility’s San Francisco substations. Inspectors from the California Public Utilities Commission found a broken, taped-over gauge at a PG&E substation in Redwood City, California during a February 2025 audit. Inspectors identified damaged equipment gauges at a substation in Redwood City, unreadable gauges in San Jose, broken gauges at two substations in San Francisco, and a missing temperature gauge in Menlo Park. A non-functional temperature gauge at the Redwood City substation had “loose wires coming out of it,” the audit report said. The January audit at the Saratoga substation where the Dec. 24 fire occurred revealed a branch inside a radiator. The May audit of the San Francisco substation where the Dec. 20 fire occurred found weeping oil on a radiator, a failed alarm relay, and a broken nitrogen gauge along with an alarm showing low nitrogen pressure. Exposed wires are shown at a PG&E substation in Redwood City, from a February 2025 audit of the utility’s facilities by California Public Utility Commission inspectors. PG&E said it “performs regular inspections and preventative maintenance on its substation assets consistent with good utility practice.” But Mark Toney, executive director of watchdog group The Utility Reform Network , said PG&E’s customers “expect PG&E to walk the talk” on safety, and added, “that’s what we’re paying the bills for.” The most recent audits for PG&E’s East Bay substations, from 2024, showed fewer violations than in the South Bay, Peninsula and San Francisco in 2025. Inspectors noted an oil leak, birds’ nests and a broken insulator in Pleasanton, and in Newark, found a rusted anchor for a tower-support cable, along with illegible gauges and birds’ nests. It was unclear why the East Bay appeared to fare better. PG&E said it takes “immediate action to address audit findings with a priority on any issue that could potentially pose a safety, ignition, or significant reliability risk.” State audits have flagged similar issues at other utilities, though regulators have not said whether PG&E’s violations are more widespread. The California Public Utilities Commission, which conducted the audits, said it can use investigations and fines to ensure laws and rules are followed.shows PG&E has been hit with millions of fines over wildfires, but no apparent penalties related to substation maintenance issues. PG&E, which serves 16 million customers from Eureka to Bakersfield and made a record profit of $2.47 billion last year, has faced accusations for years that it prioritizes paying billions of dollars to shareholders over safety. In 2020,to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter after a transmission-line failure caused the deadly 2018 Camp Fire that razed Paradise in Butte County. The previous year, Judge William Alsup of U.S. District Court in San Franciscoto stop its equipment from sparking wildfires, saying, “PG&E pumped out $4.5 billion in dividends and let the tree budget wither.” In the wake of forest fires caused by its equipment, PG&E has scrambled to prevent further damage and tragedies. Theburied 1,000 miles of power lines in high fire-risk areas, boosted vegetation maintenance and strengthened power poles and lines. It has funded the work by raising customers’ rates by $9.8 billion from 2019 to 2023,Critics say the focus on wildfire prevention may come at a cost elsewhere, with TURN’s Toney worrying that PG&E is “not paying the same level of attention to other safety issues and other maintenance issues.” East Bay Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell called the lengthy blackout from the San Francisco PG&E substation fire “a public safety risk” and“facilitate a reimbursement process where families who lost groceries and small businesses who lost profits can be made whole.” The day Swalwell made his statement, PG&E’s incomingto give automatic credits of $200 for residential customers affected by the blackout and “approximately $2,500” for affected businesses. “Who’s going to pay?” Toney said. “Are ratepayers going to have to pay for it? It doesn’t seem fair.” PG&E, where previous CEO Patricia Poppe received $15.8 million in compensation last year, declined to say whether customers would end up paying for the $50 million response to the San Francisco blackout.Dear Abby: As long as my son-in-law has this house rule, I won’t visit. Am I in the wrong?‘He broke’: 93-year-old Fremont man told police he spent month planning to kill wife, docs sayWoman shot while sitting in car in OaklandCalifornia’s largest reservoir rises 36 feet as rains boost water supply statewideVote now: Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week
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When Bay Area PG&E substations caught fire, inspectors had already raised red flagsThe utility, which serves 16 million customers from Eureka to Bakersfield and made a record profit of $2.47 billion last year, has faced accusations for years that it has prioritized paying billion…
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