PG&E Nears Completion of Restoration Effort for Electric and Gas Customers
October 19 2017 - 1:48AM
Business Wire
As its crews continued to respond to outages caused by the
devastating wildfires in Northern California, Pacific Gas and
Electric Company (PG&E) said Wednesday evening that it had
safely restored 99 percent of electric service to customers who are
able to receive power. Gas service has also been restored to
approximately 80 percent of those able to receive it.
Since the fires began, more than 353,000 customers who
experienced electric outages due to the wildfires have had their
service restored. As of Thursday morning, Oct. 19, the company
expects that all but approximately 2,800 customers who are able to
receive electric service will have been restored. These customers
are in difficult-to-reach areas with challenging terrain and/or
PG&E is awaiting CAL FIRE’s approval to access. PG&E
expects to restore these remaining customers by Friday.
PG&E has restored 30,000 customers without gas service who
are able to receive it, or approximately 80 percent. PG&E crews
have visited another 4,400 customer homes/businesses, but have been
unable to gain access to restore gas service. In addition, there
are about 3,700 customers who will be contacted for restoration and
the company expects to reach approximately 3,200 of them by
Wednesday evening. PG&E will work to complete restoration on
Thursday and Friday as contact is made and access is granted by the
customers.
More than 4,300 PG&E employees and mutual-aid partners have
worked during this event to safely restore electric and gas service
to customers affected by the fires. PG&E has worked closely
with CAL FIRE, other agencies and first responders to be able to
make the necessary repairs as soon as safe access to fire zones was
assured.
PG&E Corporation CEO and President Geisha Williams met with
hundreds of PG&E crew members and mutual aid workers early
Wednesday morning at the company’s basecamp at Rohnert Park near
Santa Rosa. “Our primary focus is the life safety and well-being of
our customers and the communities affected by these devastating
wildfires. Our crews have been working nonstop to get electric and
gas service restored for our customers. We are committed to a
steadfast and strong presence in these communities as we help them
move forward to restore and rebuild. We’re in it for the long
haul,” said Williams.
PG&E has set up neighborhood answer centers at tables or
pop-up tents in affected areas to serve customers returning to
their homes. Mobile customer service teams are walking
neighborhoods impacted by the fires to offer assistance and gather
information to address customer needs.
For customers seeking restoration and response information
related to the fires, the company has set up a dedicated web site
at www.pgecommitment.com.
Electric Progress
- Since the fires began on Oct. 9,
PG&E has been working to restore power to 359,000 affected
customers.
- As of Wednesday evening, Oct. 18,
PG&E had restored 99 percent of customers who can receive
power.
- PG&E expects that all but 2,800
customers able to receive electric service will be restored by
Thursday morning, Oct. 19. These customers are in hard-to-access or
restricted areas. PG&E expects to restore the remaining
customers throughout Thursday and Friday.
Gas Progress
- To protect customer and public safety,
PG&E proactively turned off gas service to 42,000
customers.
- As of Wednesday evening, Oct. 18,
approximately 30,000 customers who can receive service have been
restored, or 80 percent.
- PG&E crews have visited the
remaining 4,400 customers without gas service who can receive it,
but were unable to gain access to the properties to restore
service. PG&E will work to complete restoration as access is
granted by the customers.
- In addition, there are about 3,700
customers who will be contacted for restoration and the company
expects to reach approximately 3,200 of them by Wednesday
evening.
- PG&E will work to complete
restoration on Thursday and Friday as contact is made and access is
granted by the customers.
Electric Restoration Process
- Once crews have been given permission
to enter an area by CAL FIRE, PG&E crews begin the electric
assess, repair and restoration process.
- Once safe, the first step is damage
assessment. Typically, this occurs within 12 to 24 hours.
- PG&E workers will be on site to
make the area safe by isolating electrical hazards. The next steps
are equipment repairs and coordinated restoration.
- Based on needed repairs and time to
compete work, an estimated time for restoration is established and
communicated to customers.
- Prior to safely re-energizing homes and
businesses, PG&E will inspect adjacent facilities and ensure
locations are safe to receive power.
- Where safe to do so and access is
allowed, restoring service will typically take 24-48 hours
depending on the extent of damage and complexity of the work.
- Repopulation decisions to areas or
neighborhoods are made by local law enforcement.
Gas Restoration Process
- Once crews have been given permission
to enter an area by CAL FIRE, PG&E crews begin the gas
restoration process.
- Once PG&E gains access to homes and
businesses, gas crews check the meter. Then, PG&E works to
identify structures that are safe to restore service and those that
have sustained too much damage to safely restore service.
Assessments begin immediately and typically occur within 24 hours
of gaining access.
- Because gas service was turned off to
customers, any air present in the pipeline system is purged to
ensure that natural gas is safely delivered to every
structure.
- Next, the system must be resupplied
with gas and pressure tested to make sure it is safe.
- PG&E gas workers visit every
home or business where gas may be safely restored to turn the meter
on, purge the pipe within the structure, check for leaks and ensure
every pilot light is relit for safe operation.
- Repopulation decisions to areas or
neighborhoods are made by local law enforcement.
- Customers who are able to return home
and do not have gas service should call PG&E at 1-800-743-5000
to schedule a relight. They should NOT attempt to relight
their pilot lights themselves.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San
Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers
some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in
Northern and Central California. For more information, visit
www.pge.com/ and
www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.
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