In August 2026, roughly 1,800 City of Palo Alto Utilities customers lost power across Palo Verde, Greenmeadow, Fairmeadow, Charleston Terrace and Midtown, according to Hoodline. CPAU sent crews to troubleshoot; the cause had not been identified that night. After any outage, wait a few minutes before restarting an air conditioner or heat pump so pressures can equalize.
What happened
Hoodline reported on August 20, 2026 that a Wednesday night outage affected nearly 1,800 CPAU customers in five south Palo Alto neighborhoods: Palo Verde, Greenmeadow, Fairmeadow, Charleston Terrace and Midtown. City of Palo Alto Utilities dispatched crews, and the cause had not been identified at the time of the report.
Palo Alto runs its own electric utility, so outage updates come from CPAU rather than PG&E. Neighbors in Menlo Park, Atherton, Mountain View and Los Altos are on PG&E.
Why outages matter for HVAC
Power that flickers or returns in surges is hard on compressors, blower motors and control boards. Heat pumps and variable-speed systems have more electronics than older equipment, and a surge can damage a board even when the equipment was off.
Restarting after the power comes back
- Leave the thermostat off until power is stable
- Wait about five minutes, then switch the system back on so refrigerant pressures can equalize
- If the outdoor unit hums but the fan does not spin, turn it off; that often points to a failed capacitor
- Reset any tripped breakers once; if one trips again, leave it off and call us
- For Eichler radiant boilers, check that the boiler and circulator pump restarted
Protecting your equipment
Ask about a whole-home or HVAC surge protector when we service your system. If you are planning a heat pump or panel upgrade, we can include surge protection in the design.
Local notes for Midtown, Greenmeadow and Fairmeadow. Need help now? Call 650-460-3483, 24/7.
Sources
Published by the ComfortFlow HVAC Palo Alto team. Event date: .