Nearly 2,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. ratepayers were without power Tuesday, disconnected from the grid after the utility issued its first public power outage of the year because of hot, dry and windy conditions in Northern California that have fueled potential wildfires.
According to data PG&E provided to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the intentional power outages began just before 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. Shutoffs were ordered in eight of the 10 Northern California counties that PG&E said could be affected by the so-called PSPS outages. However, the number of customers affected was about one-sixth of the approximately 12,000 homes and businesses that PG&E said could be affected by the PSPS.
As of 8:00 a.m., these were the following provinces and the number of customers affected:
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Butte, 314 customers
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Colusa, 26
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More, 187
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Napa, 18
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Solano, 130
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Sonoma, 17
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Tehama, 1,179
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Yolo, 303
In total, 1,986 homes and businesses were disconnected from the grid to prevent PG&E equipment from potentially causing fires. PG&E officials stressed that “only a portion of a county can experience a PSPS event.” Additionally, non-PSPS outages occurred Tuesday morning in Arbuckle (556 customers) and Petaluma (2,154).
“Due to favorable weather conditions, PG&E has postponed the start of the planned PSPS event for approximately 10,000 additional customers, primarily in Glenn and Shasta counties,” PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno said in an update. “PG&E continues to monitor weather conditions and will keep those customers updated on the status of the PSPS event for their area.”
In Tuesday’s weather update, the utility’s meteorologists were particularly concerned about wind gusts in Butte County, across the North Bay region and along the western tier of the Sacramento Valley. PG&E meteorologists said gusts in Sonoma County reached 63 mph, with lower winds in Napa (42 mph). Winds more than 100 miles away in Butte County reached 49 mph after midnight, and strong gusts were seen in Colusa County (47 mph) and Solano County (40).
“Winds are expected to ease around midday into the evening,” meteorologists said, “before a second period of wind risk develops tonight, from midnight to 10 a.m. Wednesday.”
That means many of the same areas could be without power until at least Wednesday night or Thursday, as much of Northern California continues to grapple with extreme temperatures and a high fire danger warning. PG&E has previously said restoring power to affected customers would likely take 12 daylight hours for inspection once the weather is “safe.”
Karly Hernandez, a spokeswoman for PG&E, said the utility would open several “community resource centers” in blackout areas Tuesday so customers can cool off in air conditioning, get free bottled water and snacks and charge their phones. PG&E maps showed the centers would be open starting at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the following locations:
Sacramento is expected to top 109 degrees, with spots like Redding hitting 111 degrees on Tuesday — higher temperatures are expected Wednesday during a heat wave that is expected to last through Sunday. Scorching conditions could lead to sagging power lines and overheating transformers, raising concerns for utilities like PG&E and others not affected by the shutoffs, such as the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and municipal suppliers like Roseville Electric.
“While the risk of PSPS ends Wednesday afternoon due to the lack of stronger winds, the fire potential will remain high due to the very dry and warm conditions,” PG&E weather forecasters noted.
The utility also said that the majority of its circuits equipped with so-called enhanced powerline safety settings, a feature that makes equipment fail more quickly in dangerous conditions, had been activated. The utility had switched 10% more circuits to the newer feature since Sunday evening, it said.
Utility blamed equipment that sparked wildfires
PG&E has imposed planned power outages in recent years in the face of devastating wildfires. The utility’s equipment has been blamed for sparking some of the worst fires in state history, including the 2018 Camp Fire that devastated Paradise, and PG&E Corp. has been found liable for billions of dollars in destruction.
The utility has been blamed for more than 30 wildfires since 2017, which have destroyed more than 23,000 homes and businesses and killed more than 100 people.
Last year, the company designed two PSPS events out of four possible scenarios it identified, according to the company’s filings with the California Public Utilities Commission. The events in late August and mid-September knocked out about 5,200 customers.
For more information about the PSPS and how to receive notifications, visit the PG&E website.
