One San Jose neighborhood says its experiencing unusual number of power outages
Residents on one San Jose street say they are experiencing an unusual number of power outages.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. says the neighborhood blackouts are just random incidents, but residents think it's happening far too often to just be bad luck.
On Monday afternoon, the power was on for homeowners on Mossbrook Circle, but after 2025, they've learned not to take that for granted.
"I think there were a total of 24 outages, totaling about 55 hours for 2025, said Cyrus Shahriari.
He's been leading the neighborhood charge to figure the problem out. No one knows why it's happening so often on Mossbrook Circle. They just know it is. And just across the street, on Mossbrook Avenue, Amy Cody has noticed the difference.
"We're absolutely aware," she said. "We know when neighbors across the street have no lights on at night, and we have our lights on, we know that they are experiencing a power outage. It's the same houses in the same blocks that have lost power."
It's become so common that residents have begun buying solar systems with backup batteries. Josh and Dianna Lubliner recently installed theirs, and it became handy almost immediately.
"Since we've gotten it, we've definitely noticed a lot of power outages, and we're very glad we have it," said Josh Lubliner. "A couple weeks ago, we had a 21-hour power outage. And without the battery, we would not have had the internet, we would not be able to watch TV, we wouldn't be able to cook, wouldn't be able to do anything. So, it's incredibly inconvenient, obviously. If the power goes out to 30 minutes, an hour, it's no big deal. But 21 hours, right? What are you going to do? You can't work."
PG&E doesn't think there's a problem with their equipment. They attribute the outages to random incidents.
"They have been experiencing a number of outages over the course of the last several months, primarily due to the storms and trees impacting our lines," said Regional Senior Manager Jeremy Howard. "But there was a situation where there was a car versus a pole, and they also experienced a couple of planned outages. So, not necessarily specific to that individual neighborhood, but just kind of the surrounding areas."
"But it feels like when one of these incidents occurs, it's always this neighborhood," said Shahriari. "And if you look at surrounding streets, it's usually stable. Why can we not be connected to some of those stable circuits? That's my big question."
PG&E acknowledged that the neighborhood has had an unusual frequency of blackouts and Howard said they always focus on that to try to figure out what's causing it.
"We're fairly confident that the outages will stop," he said, "but if another outage happens, that just gives us one more data point that we can go and focus in on, and find a potential solution to that issue, as well."
The neighbors say they haven't gotten much response from PG&E until they started speaking publicly about it. They have a homeowners' association meeting planned for Feb. 28, and they're hoping a company representative will be there to answer questions. But for now, it's business as usual on Mossbrook Circle.