More than 2,000 Pacific Gas and Electric customers in Northern California started their day Wednesday without power after the utility shut off electricity in high-risk fire areas amid a prolonged heat wave.
PG&E said about 1,900 customers had their power shut off Tuesday night for public safety after winds picked up in the Sacramento Valley and foothills. Those customers also had their power shut off Tuesday morning and had it briefly restored after a weather outage, the utility said.
As of 6:20 a.m. Wednesday, about 2,200 PG&E customers were without power across the system to reduce the risk of fires caused by electrical infrastructure. The outages affected customers in Butte, Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama and Yolo counties, as well as the tribal community of Cortina Rancheria.
About 10,000 customers who received notices that their public safety outages had been postponed still had their power turned off as of Wednesday morning, PG&E said. The utility said it expected the weather to be “fully clear” by Wednesday afternoon and that it would begin assessing any damage and working to restore service to affected customers.
The utility said all customers affected by the public safety outage were expected to have power restored by Wednesday evening.
Eight community resource centers were open to clients in affected counties from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday. The resource centers are equipped with restrooms, charging stations for devices, Wi-Fi, air conditioning, ice, bottled water, snacks and other supplies.
Customers were directed to the PG&E Outage Center website for the status of their power outages and the locations of nearby assistance centers.
