PSPS UPDATE: PG&E Begins Shutting Off Power For Safety During Offshore Wind Event, Affecting About 51,000 Customers in Small Parts of 18 Counties
August 17 2021 - 9:02PM
Business Wire
Safety Shutoffs Will Begin Between 5 PM and 10
PM Depending on Location
Weather All Clears Anticipated for Wednesday
Afternoon, Allowing Power Restoration to Begin
PG&E to Open 36 Community Resource Centers
in 17 Counties to Support Customers
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) confirms that it is
in the process of implementing a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS)
affecting about 51,000 customers in small portions of 18 counties
focused in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the North Coast, the North
Valley and the North Bay mountains.
The safety shutoff is due to a combination of dry offshore
winds, extreme to exceptional drought conditions and extremely dry
vegetation.
Since Saturday, PG&E meteorologists have been tracking the
weather system, which could bring sustained winds of up to 40 mph,
gusting higher in foothills and mountains. The National Weather
Service has issued Fire Weather Watches in the area today through
Wednesday based on forecasts for dry, northerly winds and low
relative humidity. And the Northern California Geographic Area
Coordination Center’s North Operations Predictive Services has
issued a high-risk fire warning today through Wednesday due to “an
unusually gusty early-season” wind event.
Timeline for safety shutoffs
The times below are estimates and may change (earlier or later)
dependent on the dynamic weather environment. Times below as of 5
p.m. on August 17, 2021:
Time Period
De-energization Start
Counties
1
5 p.m., Tues 8/17
Shasta, Tehama, Yolo
2
6 p.m., Tues 8/17
Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Lake,
Lassen, Mendocino, Napa, Plumas, Solano, Sonoma
3
7 p.m., Tues 8/17
Trinity
4
10 p.m., Tues 8/17
Alameda, Sierra, Yuba
PG&E anticipates weather “all clears” will occur Wednesday,
August 18, in the afternoon with varying times depending on
individual locations.
Counties and Customers Potentially Affected
County
Customers
Medical
Baseline
Alameda
18
0
Butte
7,221
746
Colusa
568
34
Contra Costa
334
29
Glenn
375
21
Lake
4,563
353
Lassen
58
1
Mendocino
1,138
46
Napa
6,849
277
Plumas
550
16
Shasta
15,836
1,361
Sierra
17
1
Solano
1,093
79
Sonoma
1,864
69
Tehama
9,437
867
Trinity
61
0
Yolo
366
12
Yuba
432
45
*The following Tribal Communities located within these counties
will be impacted by this event:
- Cortina Rancheria, Grindstone Rancheria, Mooretown Rancheria,
Pit River (Montgomery Creek), and Round Valley Tribes.
Restoration to Begin Wednesday
Afternoon
PG&E will notify customers on Wednesday when the weather
system has passed and will provide continuous updates on when to
expect the power to turn back on.
Once conditions are clear, our electric crews will begin
patrolling in the air depending on the levels of smoke impacting
our visibility, in vehicles and on foot to check de-energized lines
for hazards or damage to make sure it is safe to restore power.
Restoration steps include:
- Inspect: Our crews will work to visually inspect for potential
weather-related damage to the lines, poles and towers.
- Repair: Where equipment damage is found, PG&E crews work to
isolate the damaged area from the rest of the system so other parts
of the system can be restored.
- Restore: Once the poles, towers and lines are safe to energize,
PG&E’s Control Center can complete the process and restore
power to affected areas.
- Notification: Customers are notified that power has been
restored.
“With these high winds and extremely dry climate conditions, we
are focused on customer and community safety. It’s never an easy
decision to turn off the power for safety, but it is the right
thing to do to keep everyone safe,” said Marlene Santos, PG&E
Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. “We understand
how disruptive and inconvenient it is to lose power. The sole focus
of a PSPS is to keep our customers safe. As soon as this extreme
weather passes, our crews will be inspecting our equipment and the
vegetation around it, making repairs and restoring power as soon as
it’s safe to do so. In the face of extreme and exceptional drought,
we must do everything possible to protect lives, homes and
businesses. We are incredibly grateful to our customers for their
patience as we take the necessary steps to reduce the risk of
wildfire across our service area.”
How Customers Can
Prepare
- Use a cell phone or hard-wired phone. Cordless phones do not
work without electricity.
- Use battery-operated flashlights, not candles, which may pose a
fire hazard.
- Unplug or turn off all electric and heat-producing appliances
(e.g., air conditioners, washers and dryers, ovens, stoves, irons)
to avoid overloading circuits. Overloaded circuits can be a fire
hazard once power is restored.
- Unplug televisions and computers that were in use when the
power went out.
- Leave a single lamp on to alert you when power returns.
- Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed, and place extra
containers of ice inside to preserve food. A full freezer will
remain colder longer.
- Notify your alarm company if you have an alarm system.
Equipment can be affected by outages.
- Turn your appliances back on one at a time when conditions
return to normal.
- Reset clocks, thermostats and other programmed equipment after
power is restored.
Generator Safety
Backup power can be a vital part of any emergency preparedness
plan in the event of a power outage. PG&E’s residential and
business customers can review key considerations, safety tips,
financing and retailer information by visiting
pge.com/backuppower.
Community Resource
Centers
PG&E will open 36 Community Resource Centers (CRCs) in 17
counties to support customers affected by this event. View the most
current list of CRCs at www.pge.com/pspsupdates. CRCs will open
Tuesday starting at 5 p.m. and close at 10 p.m. and then reopen at
8 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. for the remainder of the shutoff.
During a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS), we open CRCs where
community members can access resources, including:
- A safe location to meet their basic power needs, such as
charging medical equipment and electronic devices.
- Up-to-date information about the PSPS.
- Water, snacks and other essential items to reduce hardships to
our customers.
To keep our customers and communities safe, all resource centers
reflect appropriate COVID-19 health considerations and federal,
state and county guidelines.
We are offering 16 outdoor sites to supplement the 20 indoor
CRCs and provide more options for customers.
More Customer Resources Than Ever
Before
We are doing more to help customers and communities before,
during and after PSPS events.
To reduce the effects of PSPS events, we are listening to our
customers and responding to feedback by providing more information
and better resources. This year, we are:
- Providing better information via phone, email and text about
when power will be turned off and back on
- Conducting extra outreach to Medical Baseline customers,
including additional notifications, phone calls or a doorbell ring,
to ensure they’re aware and can make preparations to stay safe
- Partnering with 10+ more community-based organizations (CBOs)
to provide portable batteries and hotel stays to those with medical
needs (had 250+ partnerships in 2020)
- Providing an additional 5,000 batteries (6,500 provided in
2020) covering all interested income qualified Medical Baseline
customers in high fire-threat areas
- Opening more Community Resource Center (CRC) locations
(targeting 370 total sites in 2021)
- Providing an option for non-account holders to receive a direct
notification in advance of and during a PSPS for any addresses of
interest
- Offering rebate programs for customers who rely on well water
and purchase generation
- Providing emergency information in 16 languages and partnering
with CBOs to conduct multilingual outreach
- Increasing meal replacement options from local food banks to
cover every county likely to be impacted (46 in 2021, compared to
36 in 2020).
Here’s Where to Learn
More
- PG&E’s emergency website (www.pge.com/pspsupdates) is now
available in 16 languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog,
Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, Farsi, Arabic, Hmong, Khmer, Punjabi,
Japanese, Thai, Portuguese and Hindi. Customers will have the
opportunity to choose their language of preference for viewing the
information when visiting the website.
- Customers are encouraged to update their contact information
and indicate their preferred language for notifications by visiting
www.pge.com/mywildfirealerts or by calling 1-800-742-5000, where
in-language support is available.
- Tenants and non-account holders can sign up to receive PSPS ZIP
Code Alerts for any area where you do not have a PG&E account
by visiting www.pge.com/pspszipcodealerts.
- At PG&E’s Safety Action Center
(www.safetyactioncenter.pge.com) customers can prepare for
emergencies. By using the "Make Your Own Emergency Plan" tool and
answering a few short questions, visitors to the website can
compile and organize the important information needed for a
personalized family emergency plan. This includes phone numbers,
escape routes and a family meeting location if an evacuation is
necessary.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric
utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square
miles in Northern and Central California. For more information,
visit pge.com and pge.com/news.
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