Due to Severe Weather & Wind, PG&E Will Turn Off Power for Safety to Approximately 37,000 Customers in Targeted Parts of 15 C...
October 21 2020 - 7:32PM
Business Wire
Strong Winds Expected to Begin This Evening
Through Friday Morning
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will de-energize
certain electrical lines for safety over the course of this evening
(Wednesday, Oct. 21) as part of a Public Safety Power Shutoff
(PSPS). PG&E is calling a PSPS due to a high-wind event
combined with low humidity and severely dry vegetation, that
together create high risk of catastrophic wildfires.
Due changes in the weather forecast, the number of customers
expected to be impacted has decreased by 31 percent. The PSPS event
will affect approximately 37,000 customers in targeted portions of
15 counties.
- Counties removed from scope include: Lassen, Solano, Stanislaus
and Yuba counties.
- Counties remaining in scope include: Alameda, Butte, Colusa,
Contra Costa, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Napa, Plumas, Santa Clara,
Shasta, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, and Yolo Counties.
Customers Notified of Decision to Shut Off Power Wednesday
afternoon
Customer notifications began 48 hours in advance of the shutoff
and PG&E continues to update affected customers. Customers were
notified this afternoon that the PSPS event would occur and
customers who were removed from the scope were notified of
cancellation. Lines will be de-energized starting at approximately
8 p.m. tonight and the de-energization process will continue
throughout the evening, depending upon location, across the
Sacramento Valley, Northern Sierra, and elevated terrain of the
North and East Bay. All of these areas are covered by National
Weather Service Red Flag Warnings, indicating critical fire weather
conditions.
To support our customers during this PSPS, PG&E will open 21
Community Resource Centers (CRCs). For customers with power turning
off this evening, CRCs will be open from 7 p.m. today (Wednesday,
Oct. 21) until 10 p.m. All CRCs will operate from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
through 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, WiFi;
bottled water, grab-and-go bags and non-perishable snacks.
Timeline for safety shutoffs
The de-energization will begin around 8 p.m. Shutoffs will
continue throughout the evening, ultimately affecting a total of
about 37,000 customers in portions of Alameda, Butte, Colusa,
Contra Costa, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Napa, Plumas, Santa Clara,
Shasta, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, and Yolo Counties.
Customer notifications—via text, email and automated phone
call—began Monday afternoon (Oct. 19), approximately two days prior
to the potential shutoff. Additional notifications one day prior to
the event took place Tuesday, Oct. 20. 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 with a knock on their door when
possible with a focus on customers who rely on electricity for
critical life-sustaining equipment.
Once the weather subsides on Friday morning and it’s safe to do
so, PG&E will patrol the de-energized lines to determine if
they were damaged during the wind event and repair any damage
found. PG&E will then safely restore power in stages and as
quickly as possible, with the goal of restoring power to nearly all
customers within 12 daylight hours after severe weather has
passed.
Affected Counties and Customers
- Alameda County: 336 customers, 16 Medical Baseline
customers
- Butte County: 10,259 customers, 922 Medical Baseline
customers
- Colusa County: 4 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers
- Contra Costa County: 201 customers, 10 Medical Baseline
customers
- Glenn County: 162 customers, 7 Medical Baseline customers
- Humboldt County: 288 customers, 5 Medical Baseline
customers
- Lake County: 127 customers, 6 Medical Baseline customers
- Napa County: 3,296 customers, 120 Medical Baseline
customers
- Plumas County: 434 customers, 8 Medical Baseline customers
- Santa Clara County: 236 customers, 9 Medical Baseline
customers
- Shasta County: 18,480 customers, 1,464 Medical Baseline
customers
- Sonoma County: 135 customers, 5 Medical Baseline customers
- Tehama County: 2,511 customers, 189 Medical Baseline
customers
- Trinity County: 395 customers, 21 Medical Baseline
customers
- Yolo County: 10 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers
- Total*: 36,874 customers, 2,782 Medical Baseline customers
*The following Tribal Communities located within these counties
will be impacted by this event:
- Grindstone Rancheria Tribal community
- Pit River Tribal community – Montgomery Creek Rancheria,
Roaring Creek Rancheria
Customers can look up their address online to find out if their
location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at
www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
Community Resource Centers Reflect COVID-Safety
Protocols
While a PSPS is an important safety tool to reduce wildfire risk
during severe fire risk weather, PG&E understands that losing
power disrupts lives.
PG&E’s temporary CRCs will provide ADA-accessible restrooms,
hand-washing stations; medical-equipment charging; WiFi; bottled
water; grab-and-go bags and non-perishable snacks. The 21 CRCs,
located throughout PG&E’s service area in locations affected by
the PSPS, will remain open throughout the event.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, 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.
Besides these health protocols, customers visiting a CRC in 2020
will experience further changes, including a different look and
feel. In addition to using existing indoor facilities, PG&E is
planning to open CRCs at outdoor, open-air sites in some locations
and use large commercial vans as CRCs in other locations. CRC
locations will depend on a number of factors, including input from
local and tribal leaders. Outdoor CRCs will provide grab-and-go
supply bags so most customers can be on their way quickly.
PG&E updates its CRC locations regularly. Click here for
updates.
Here’s Where to Go to Learn More
- PG&E’s emergency website 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.
- For additional language support services including how to set
language preference, select options for obtaining translated
notifications, and receive other translated resources on PSPS,
customers can visit pge.com/pspslanguagehelp. This website is
available in 11 languages including English, Spanish, Chinese,
Tagalog, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, Hmong, Khmer, Punjabi and
Japanese. Customers who need in-language support over the phone can
contact us by calling 1-833-208-4167.
- Customers are encouraged to update their contact information
and indicate their preferred language for notifications by visiting
pge.com/mywildfirealerts or by calling 1-800-743-5000.
- 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 pge.com/pspszipcodealerts.
- PG&E has launched a new tool at its online Safety Action
Center 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.
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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