PG&E Conducts Public Safety Power Shutoffs in Response to High-Wind Event, Scope of Event Reduced to 65,000
September 27 2020 - 3:00PM
Business Wire
First Wave of 11,000 Public Safety Power
Shutoffs Completed Sunday Morning; Second Wave of 54,000 Customers
Begins Sunday Afternoon, Primarily in the Central Sierra Region
Community Resource Centers Accommodate Physical
Distancing While Providing Water and Device Charging for Customers
Experiencing PSPS
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will continue to
de-energize certain electrical lines as part of a Public Safety
Power Shutoff (PSPS) due to a strong and dry wind event creating
high fire risk. As communicated on Friday, the PSPS event will
affect customers in portions of 16 counties, primarily in Northern
and Central Sierra region, although the number of customers
expected to be impacted has decreased by 27 percent due to
favorable changes in forecast weather conditions.
This PSPS event is based on forecasts of widespread, severely
dry conditions and strong, gusty winds. These conditions are
expected to continue through Monday morning in most locations.
In total the power shutoff event is expected to impact
approximately 65,000 customers in portions of 16 counties,
including: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lake, Napa,
Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Tehama and Yuba counties.
Two customers within Sonoma County and 15 customers in Kern County
are also expected to be included in the scope of this PSPS.
Some customers may experience outages unrelated to this PSPS
event due to requests from CAL FIRE to de-energize lines for the
safety of firefighters in active fire areas or damage caused from
wildfire related impacts to equipment.
PG&E is working to improve its PSPS program by making events
smaller in size, shorter in length and smarter for our customers.
While PSPS is an important wildfire safety tool, PG&E
understands the burden PSPS places on its customers especially for
those with medical needs and customers sheltering-at-home in
response to COVID-19.
Timeline for safety shutoffs
PG&E began de-energization for the first wave of 11,000
customers around 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Based on wind forecasts, de-energization for the second wave of
54,000 customers will begin at approximately 4:00 p.m. on Sunday
afternoon. Power is expected to be out overnight Sunday into Monday
for all customers.
Once the high winds subside Monday morning, PG&E will
inspect the de-energized lines to ensure they were not damaged
during the wind event, and then restore power. PG&E will safely
restore power in stages as quickly as possible, with the goal of
restoring power to nearly all customers who are safe to restore
within 12 daylight hours after severe weather has passed.
Customer notifications—via text, email and automated phone
call—began Thursday, approximately 48 hours prior to the potential
shutoff. Customers enrolled in the company’s Medical Baseline
program who do not verify that they have received these important
safety communications will be individually visited by a PG&E
employee to deliver the warning if possible, starting with
customers who rely on electricity for critical life-sustaining
equipment.
Potentially Impacted Counties and Customers
The power shutoff is currently expected to impact approximately
65,000 customers in the following 16 counties, including:
- Alpine County: 573 customers, 6 Medical Baseline
- Amador County: 5,466 customers, 400 Medical
Baseline
- Butte County: 11,339 customers, 961 Medical
Baseline
- Calaveras County: 5,132 customers, 219 Medical
Baseline
- El Dorado County: 27,286 customers, 1,796 Medical
Baseline
- Kern County: 15 customers, 0 Medical Baseline
- Lake County: 55 customers, 2 Medical Baseline
- Napa County: 288 customers, 8 Medical Baseline
- Nevada County: 2,887 customers, 166 Medical
Baseline
- Placer County: 4,380 customers, 281 Medical
Baseline
- Plumas County: 785 customers, 24 Medical Baseline
- Shasta County: 2,815 customers, 240 Medical
Baseline
- Sierra County: 1,099 customers, 22 Medical Baseline
- Sonoma County: 2 customers, 0 Medical Baseline
- Tehama County: 1,223 customers, 58 Medical Baseline
- Yuba County: 1,891 customers, 152 Medical Baseline
- Total: 65,237 customers, 4,335 Medical Baseline
Customers can use an address lookup tool to find out if their
location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at
www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
Here’s Where to Go to Learn More
- PG&E’s emergency website www.pge.com/pspsupdates is now
available in thirteen languages. Currently, the website is
available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Russian,
Vietnamese, Korean, Farsi, Arabic, Hmong, Khmer, Punjabi and
Japanese. 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.
- PG&E has launched a new tool at its online Safety Action
Center www.safetyactioncenter.pge.com to help customers prepare. 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.
Community Resource Centers Reflect COVID-Safety
Protocols
PG&E has opened 27 outdoor, open-air Community Resource
Centers (CRCs) in every county where a PSPS occurs. These temporary
CRCs will be open to customers when power is out at their homes and
will provide ADA-accessible restrooms, hand-washing stations;
medical-equipment charging; Wi-Fi; bottled water; grab-and-go bags
and non-perishable snacks. PG&E updates its CRC locations
regularly, click here for updates.
All CRCs will follow important health and safety protocols
including:
- Facial coverings and maintaining a physical distance of at
least six feet from those who are not part of the same household
will be required at all CRCs.
- Temperature checks will be administered before entering CRCs
that are located indoors.
- CRC staff will be trained in COVID-19 precautions and will
regularly sanitize surfaces and use Plexiglass barriers at
check-in.
- All CRCs will follow county and state requirements regarding
COVID-19, including limits on the number of customers permitted
indoors at any time.
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 23,000 employees, the company delivers
some of the nation's cleanest energy to 16 million people in
Northern and Central California. For more information, visit
pge.com and pge.com/news.
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