PG&E PSPS Update: Essentially All Customers Who Can Receive Electric Service are Now Restored

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has restored power to essentially all customers who can receive service that were impacted by the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) event that began Sunday morning, Oct. 25.

The PSPS event affected approximately 345,000 customers in targeted portions of 34 counties: Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba. Customers in 17 tribal land communities were also affected.

The weather “all clear” was given for all customers affected by this PSPS event on early Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 27. PG&E crews began patrols on the ground as early as Monday morning in areas where it was safe to do so, and continued patrols into Wednesday to inspect more than 17,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines for damage or hazards. The patrol and inspection efforts include nearly 1,800 ground patrol units, 65 helicopters and one airplane.

PG&E crews began restoring customers in areas where they found no damage or hazards to electrical equipment. In areas where equipment was damaged by the severe wind event, crews worked safely and as quickly as possible to make the repairs and restore those customers.

“We know these power shutoffs are a hardship for our customers, and we greatly appreciate their patience as we worked safely and quickly to restore service. Amid historic weather conditions and the strongest winds of the wildfire season so far, we aimed to minimize the scope and length of the event. Our most important responsibility has been to keep customers and communities safe,” said Michael Lewis, PG&E’s Interim President.

Damage and Hazards Identified

Preliminary data shows at least 76 instances of weather-related damage and hazards in the PSPS-affected areas. Examples include downed lines and vegetation on power lines. If PG&E had not de-energized power lines, these types of damage could have caused wildfire ignitions.

More Information on PG&E PSPS Events

PG&E’s goal is to have essentially all customers affected by the PSPS who can receive power restored within 12 daylight hours of the weather “all clear” for each affected area.

PG&E uses a PSPS only as the last resort to protect community and customer safety against wildfires, given dry and windy weather, dry vegetation and an elevated fire risk across portions of its service area. Wind gusts as high as 89 mph were recorded during this PSPS event.

PG&E will submit a report detailing damage from the severe weather conditions to the California Public Utilities Commission within 10 days of the completion of the PSPS.

For more information on the PSPS event, visit pge.com/pspsupdates.

Prevention, Preparedness and Support

It is important that PG&E has your current contact information so you can be notified and be better prepared if a wildfire or PSPS event may impact your home or business. To set up your alerts, visit pge.com/alerts.

With the increased wildfire threat our state faces, PG&E is enhancing and expanding our efforts to reduce wildfire risks and keep our customers and communities safe. Our Community Wildfire Safety Program includes short, medium and long-term plans to make our system safer. For tips on how to prepare for emergencies and outages, visit our Safety Action Center at safetyactioncenter.pge.com.

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.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201028006250/en/