Due to Highest Winds & Driest Conditions of the Season, PG&E Will Turn Off Power for Safety to Approximately 361,000 Customer...
October 25 2020 - 12:58PM
Business Wire
Strong Winds Expected to Begin Sunday Morning
Through Monday Morning, With Windy Conditions Lingering in Some
Regions Through Early Tuesday
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will de-energize
certain electrical lines for safety starting this morning (Sunday,
Oct. 25) as part of a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS). PG&E
is calling a PSPS due to a significant, offshore wind event
starting Sunday that is forecast to have the driest humidity levels
and the strongest winds of the wildfire season thus far, that
together create high risk of catastrophic wildfires.
The PSPS event will affect approximately 361,000 customers in
targeted portions of 36 counties, including: Alameda, Alpine,
Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno,
Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino,
Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara,
Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus,
Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba. Some customers in 17
tribal communities will also be affected.
Some customers previously notified about the potential PSPS will
not have their power turned off during this event. This is due to a
combination of favorable changes in the weather forecast.
Approximately 105,000 customers will not be turned off for this
reason. Additionally, another 84,000 will remain energized through
the event due to islanding, temporary generation, and other
methods.
Affected Counties and Customers
Below is a list of customers who could potentially be affected
by this PSPS event.
- Alameda County: 16,329 customers, 795 Medical Baseline
customers
- Alpine County: 575 customers, 6 Medical Baseline
customers
- Amador County: 10,398 customers, 805 Medical Baseline
customers
- Butte County: 13,066 customers, 1,160 Medical Baseline
customers
- Calaveras County: 15,694 customers, 729 Medical Baseline
customers
- Colusa County: 565 customers, 32 Medical Baseline
customers
- Contra Costa County: 17,966 customers, 883 Medical
Baseline customers
- El Dorado County: 38,462 customers, 2,681 Medical
Baseline customers
- Fresno County: 4,712 customers, 408 Medical Baseline
customers
- Glenn County: 377 customers, 18 Medical Baseline
customers
- Humboldt County: 7,143 customers, 239 Medical Baseline
customers
- Kern County: 627 customers, 32 Medical Baseline
customers
- Lake County: 21,621 customers, 1,572 Medical Baseline
customers
- Madera County: 10,792 customers, 858 Medical Baseline
customers
- Marin County: 13,809 customers, 443 Medical Baseline
customers
- Mariposa County: 703 customers, 14 Medical Baseline
customers
- Mendocino County: 648 customers, 14 Medical Baseline
customers
- Napa County: 11,026 customers, 393 Medical Baseline
customers
- Nevada County: 40,246 customers, 2,445 Medical Baseline
customers
- Placer County: 17,017 customers, 1,060 Medical Baseline
customers
- Plumas County: 3,168 customers, 167 Medical Baseline
customers
- San Joaquin County: 10 customers, 0 Medical Baseline
customers
- San Mateo County: 3,671 customers, 93 Medical Baseline
customers
- Santa Clara County: 4,182 customers, 205 Medical
Baseline customers
- Santa Cruz County: 13,872 customers, 955 Medical
Baseline customers
- Shasta County: 24,746 customers, 1,967 Medical Baseline
customers
- Sierra County: 1,101 customers, 24 Medical Baseline
customers
- Siskiyou County: 57 customers, 0 Medical Baseline
customers
- Solano County: 1,597 customers, 96 Medical Baseline
customers
- Sonoma County: 23,464 customers, 1,164 Medical Baseline
customers
- Stanislaus County: 35 customers, 0 Medical Baseline
customers
- Tehama County: 6,470 customers, 544 Medical Baseline
customers
- Trinity County: 1,376 customers, 74 Medical Baseline
customers
- Tuolumne County: 30,327 customers, 2,220 Medical
Baseline customers
- Yolo County: 165 customers, 4 Medical Baseline
customers
- Yuba County: 4,666 customers, 365 Medical Baseline
customers
- Total*: 360,687 customers, 22,465 Medical Baseline
customers
*The following Tribal Community counts are included within the
County level detail above.
- Big Sandy Rancheria Tribal Community: 61 customers, 2
Medical Baseline customers
- Cold Springs Rancheria of Mono Indians Tribal Community:
54 customers, 5 Medical Baseline customers
- Cortina Rancheria Tribal Community: 8 customers, 1
Medical Baseline customers
- Dry Creek Rancheria Tribal Community: 8 customers, 0
Medical Baseline customers
- Grindstone Rancheria Tribal Community: 49 customers, 3
Medical Baseline customers
- Hoopa Valley Tribe Tribal Community: 1062 customers, 56
Medical Baseline customers
- Jackson Rancheria Tribal Community: 28 customers, 0
Medical Baseline customers
- Karuk Tribe Tribal Community: 42 customers, 0 Medical
Baseline customers
- Middletown Rancheria Tribal Community: 33 customers, 0
Medical Baseline customers
- North Fork Rancheria Tribal Community: 25 customers, 3
Medical Baseline customers
- Pit River Tribes Tribal Community: 8 customers, 0
Medical Baseline customers
- Robinson Rancheria Tribal Community: 96 customers, 4
Medical Baseline customers
- Shingle Springs Rancheria Tribal Community: 49
customers, 2 Medical Baseline customers
- Stewarts Point Rancheria (Kashaya Pomo) Tribal
Community: 22 customers, 2 Medical Baseline customers
- Tuolumne Rancheria Tribal Community: 112 customers, 6
Medical Baseline customers
- Upper Lake Rancheria Tribal Community: 28 customers, 2
Medical Baseline customers
- Yurok Tribe Tribal Community: 87 customers, 4 Medical
Baseline customers
Timeline for Safety Shutoffs
The de-energization will begin around 10 a.m. Sunday morning,
beginning with customers in the Northern Sierra region. Shutoffs
will continue through Monday into late evening.
Weather is expected to subside Monday morning for the majority
of customers, and by Tuesday morning for the remainder. Once it
does and it is 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.
Resource for customers
Customer notifications
Customer notifications—via text, email and automated phone
call—began Friday, Oct. 23, approximately two days prior to the
potential shutoff. Additional notifications one day prior to the
event took place Saturday, Oct. 24. 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.
Community Resource Centers
To support our customers during this PSPS, PG&E will open
106 Community Resource Centers (CRCs). For customers with power
turning off Sunday morning, CRCs will be open from 8 a.m. until 10
p.m. today. All CRCs will 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, WiFi;
bottled water, grab-and-go bags and non-perishable snacks.
PG&E updates its CRC locations regularly. To find CRC
locations, visit pge.com/crc.
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.
Online Resources for Customers
- 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.
- 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. In addition,
PG&E’s contact center has translation services available in
over 200 languages. Customers who need in-language support over the
phone can contact us by calling 1-833-208-4167.
- 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 also
available in 13 languages as listed above.
- 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. PG&E’s
contact center has translation services available in over 200
languages.
- 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 at 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 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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