KTVU69%

PG&E mistakenly notified 120K customers of SF power outage 41%

7/18/2026, 6:44:28 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Optimism Bias, and Framing Effect, with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 39.5% saturation with 105 hits. Analysis detected 715 faulty-reasoning hits from 266 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 45.7% and a BS Rank of 41% (11,022 of 18,403 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 59.90% of the article peer group.

PG&E mistakenly notified 120,000 San Francisco customers of a power outage Saturday morning, when only about 9,400 customers were without power. 
PG&E says the outage began around 9:45 a.m. during a "routine operational procedure" between two utility substations. 
Initially, 9,400 customers near Golden Gate Park in the Richmond and Presidio were affected, PG&E said. 
By 3 p.m. that number was down to 1,595. 
Power was restored for all customers at 4 p.m. 
The cause of the outage is under investigation. 
"We understand that any disruption in power is frustrating for our customers and we are committed to safe and quick restoration of service," the utility said. 
120,000 PG&E customers incorrectly notified 
When the outage first began, PG&E says its system incorrectly reflected that 120,000 customers were without power, notifying each of those customers. 
"This morning, during a routine operational procedure between two San Francisco substations, protective devices activated and that caused an outage," PG&E said in a statement. 
"Due to the fact that two circuits were impacted, the outage notification system rolled up to a larger protective device, which indicated 120,000 customers were without power. 
That was not correct." 
The utility said its notification system was corrected within 30 minutes. 
Waymo, the autonomous car company, temporarily limited service in parts of the city during the outage, saying it was for an "abundance of caution." 
"Waymo temporarily paused service for approximately one hour to assess local conditions. 
We have resumed service and are providing rides across the majority of our Bay Area service territory," a company representative said. 
Confirmation Bias
14.3%
Anchoring Bias
7.9%
Availability Heuristic
0%
Representativeness Heuristic
0%
Hindsight Bias
0%
Overconfidence Bias
0%
Framing Effect
22.2%
Loss Aversion
0%
Status Quo Bias
10.9%
Sunk Cost Effect
0%
Optimism Bias
25.2%
Pessimism Bias
0%
Negativity Bias
14.7%
Self-Serving Bias
21.8%
Fundamental Attribution Error
0%
Actor-Observer Bias
0%
In-Group Bias
0%
Out-Group Homogeneity Bias
0%
Halo Effect
0%
Horn Effect
0%
Dunning-Kruger Effect
0%
Recency Bias
3.4%
Primacy Effect
0%
Blind-Spot Bias
1.5%
Ad Hominem
0%
Straw Man
0%
Appeal to Authority
34.2%
False Dilemma
0%
Slippery Slope
0%
Circular Reasoning
0%
Hasty Generalization
0%
Red Herring
0%
Bandwagon
0%
Appeal to Emotion
18.8%
Begging the Question
0%
Post Hoc (False Cause)
10.2%
Tu Quoque
0%
Burden of Proof
3%
Appeal to Nature
9%
Composition/Division
0%
Anecdotal
0%
No True Scotsman
0%
Ambiguity (Equivocation)
9.4%
Gambler’s Fallacy
0%
Middle Ground
0%
Personal Incredulity
0%
Special Pleading
0%
Genetic Fallacy
0%
Unattributed Quote
39.5%
Quote-first Misdirection
9.8%
Biased Writer Voice
13.2%
Indoctrination
0%
Politically Left Leaning Bias
0%
Politically Right Leaning Bias
0%
Attempt to Sell a Product or Service
0%

266 words analyzed.

Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.