PG&E PSPS Update: About 10,000 Customers to be Restored Today with Essentially All Others Expected to Have Power Back on Tomo...
October 16 2020 - 2:08AM
Business Wire
Temporary Generation and Line Sectionalizing
Devices Reduced Number of Customers Who Needed to be De-energized
by Approximately 12,000
40 Community Resource Centers Providing Water,
Restrooms, Device Charging and More
PG&E Partnering with Community-Based
Organizations to Assist Customers with Medical, Financial, Language
and Aging Needs Before, During and After PSPS events
With an ongoing Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) event that
could have affected about 53,000 customers, Pacific Gas and
Electric Company (PG&E) continued Thursday to focus on safety,
monitor the weather, and support our customers recognizing the
hardship that a PSPS represents.
Here are some updates on the weather, the event, and how
customers are being supported.
Oct. 14-16 Public Safety Power Shutoff
About 53,000 customers in 24 counties were within the original
forecasted PSPS footprint. Due to some improving weather conditions
and deployment of technology, only about 41,000 were de-energized.
This includes 4,000 customers in the Southern Sierra who had been
told that they would be de-energized today have now been told that
more favorable weather means that they won’t lose power during the
PSPS event.
Before the event began, PG&E was able to reduce the impact
of the PSPS event by keeping about 12,000 customers energized
through temporary and permanent generation, off-grid service, and
by using devices that split or sectionalize power lines, which
allows more precise de-energization. PG&E’s goal this year is
to reduce the number of customers affected by a PSPS event by
one-third compared to last year.
In some locations, the severe weather subsided enough during the
day for PG&E’s Meteorology team to issue an “all clear,”
meaning that electric crews could begin patrols of power lines as
the first step toward restoration. Once de-energized for a PSPS
event, power lines must be visually inspected to ensure that no
wind-driven damage or hazards such as tree limbs entwined in lines
exist. Once inspected, the lines can be energized, restoring
service to customers. As of 6 p.m. today, PG&E restored about
8,000 customers who had been de-energized for this event with an
expectation that another 2,000 customers could be restored
tonight.
PG&E expects that the “all clear” will be issued in all
remaining areas of the PSPS footprint Friday morning, which means
more than 1,000 PG&E employees will be on the ground or in more
than 40 helicopters to conduct line patrols and restore customers.
The majority of customers affected by this PSPS event are expected
to be restored by late Friday.
Community Resource Centers
To support our customers during this PSPS event, PG&E opened
40 Community Resource Centers (CRCs) that operate from 8 a.m. to 10
p.m. throughout the event. 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.
Many of these CRCs opened Wednesday afternoon and all were open
on Thursday. As of this afternoon, about 1,500 customers visited a
CRC.
PG&E updates its CRC locations regularly. Click here for
updates.
Support for Customers with Medical Needs
PG&E is also partnering with 47 community-based
organizations (CBOs) to assist customers with medical, financial,
language, and aging needs before, during, and after PSPS events.
These activities include:
- Collaborating with the California Foundation for Independent
Living Centers (CFILC) through a grant program to support the
Access and Functional Needs (AFN) community. This support for
customers with medical and independent living needs includes:
- Enabling qualifying customers who use electrical medical
devices to access backup portable batteries
- Emergency preparedness outreach and education
- Promotion of Medical Baseline Program
- Accessible transportation resources
- Hotel stays
- Food stipends
- Working with 14 food banks and 17 local Meals on Wheels
chapters.
- Expanding availability of materials in American Sign Language
(ASL).
- Providing emergency information in 13 languages.
- Establishing an advisory group to help create solutions for
emergency preparedness for customers with medical needs.
Details about these resources are at our website at
pge.com/disabilityandaging
Also, as of Oct. 14, PG&E provided a total of 1,244 portable
batteries to customers to support backup power, including:
- 636 portable batteries provided to customers through CFILC’s
Disability Disaster Access and Resources Program.
- 608 portable batteries provided to customers through PG&E’s
Portable Battery Program.
During this Oct. 14-16 PSPS event, PG&E’s partners have
engaged proactively or reactively with nearly 2,400 individuals.
Through Thursday afternoon, 119 customers have used batteries
provided by the CFILC and 34 hotel stays have been coordinated.
Here’s Where to Go to Learn More
- PG&E’s emergency website www.pge.com/pspsupdates is now
available in 13 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
an emergency plan. 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.
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 16 million people in
Northern and Central California. For more information, visit
pge.com and pge.com/news.
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