Story last updated at 5:50 p.m.
A major power outage affected a large swath of west and central Chico on March 9, including the downtown area and Chico State.
The power failure started about 4:04 p.m. and at one point affected about 7,400 customers, PG&E spokesperson Paul Moreno said in an email.
Power was restored for all Chico customers at 5:40 p.m., Moreno said.
A PG&E map of the outage showed the outage largely affected the west side of the Avenues neighborhood and the downtown area.
The outage was caused by “damaged equipment inside a PG&E substation,” Moreno said.
“A technician discovered the damaged bushing on a transformer and PG&E shut off the power to the transformer for safety,” he said in a 5:21 p.m. update. “Crews are now working to reroute power to another transformer and expect to begin safely restoring power to customers shortly.”
Chico State said in a phone alert that the outage is affecting the entire campus, including door access, and faculty may cancel classes.
Some traffic lights downtown were affected by the outage, with drivers treating them as stop signs.
Businesses were also affected. Upper Crust Bakery & Cafe posted a sign saying it was closing early for the day.
Ahmad Matumbi, a worker at Bodega Slice Shop downtown, said the pizza restaurant also intended to close early because of the outage.
“It just stopped our business completely,” Matumbi said. “We can’t make pizza … and we can’t use the cash register and we can’t get all of our DoorDash orders.”
NSPR’s Claudia Brancart contributed reporting.
