SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. October 13, 2018 – Due to expected extreme fire danger conditions including, the Red Flag Warning from the National Weather Service and several other weather factors, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced it may be proactively turning power off for safety and conducting a Public Safety Power Shutoff in several northern California cities within the next 24 hours.
PG&E could take the action of turning off the power for safety as early as late Saturday night into early Sunday morning. The greater likelihood is potentially turning off the power for safety in advance of Sunday evening wind event that is forecasted to last into Monday morning.
To help reduce the risk of wildfire and to keep our customers, their families and their homes and businesses safe, the company may be turning off power in parts of the following extreme fire risk areas:
- Lake County (Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Clearlake Park, Cobb, Finley, Hidden Valley Lake, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Lower Lake, Middletown)
- Napa County (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Lake Berryessa, Napa, Pope Valley, Saint Helena)
- Sonoma County (Cloverdale, Geyserville, Healdsburg, Santa Rosa)
- Yuba County (Brownsville, Camptonville, Challenge, Dobbins, Marysville, Oregon House, Strawberry Valley)
- Butte County (Berry Creek, Brush Creek, Clipper Mills, Feather Falls, Forbestown, Oroville)
- Sierra County (Alleghany, Downieville, Goodyears Bar, Pike City, Sierra City),
- Placer County (Alta, Applegate, Auburn, Baxter, Colfax, Dutch Flat, Emigrant Gap, Foresthill, Gold Run, Loomis, Meadow Vista, Weimar)
- Nevada County (Chicago Park, Grass Valley, Nevada City, North San Juan, Penn Valley, Rough and Ready, Soda Springs, Washington)
- El Dorado County (Aukum, Camino, Coloma, Cool, Diamond Springs, El Dorado, Fair Play, Garden Valley, Georgetown, Greenwood, Grizzly Flats, Kelsey, Kyburz, Mount Aukum, Omo Ranch, Pacific House, Placerville, Pollock Pines, Shingle Springs, Silver Fork, Somerset, Strawberry, Twin Bridges)
- Amador County (Fiddletown, Jackson, Pine Grove, Pioneer, Plymouth, Sutter Creek, Volcano)
- Plumas County (La Porte)
- Calaveras (Glencoe, Mokelumne Hill, Mountain Ranch, Rail Road Flat, West Point, Wilseyville)
We are working directly with first responders and state and local agencies to help prepare for this potential safety event. We are conducting outreach to customers in potentially affected areas and also doing special outreach to PG&E customers who are on Medical Baseline.
“The safety of our customers and the communities we serve is PG&E’s top priority. We know how much our customers rely on electric service and would only consider temporarily turning off power in the interest of safety, and as a last resort during extreme weather conditions. PG&E has a plan. We want our customers to have plans, too.” said Kevin Dasso, vice president of electric asset management.
When and where possible, PG&E will provide early warning notification as well as updates until power is restored. Extreme weather threats can change quickly. Out of an abundance of caution, PG&E is providing notice to customers in advance of this safety event through automated phone calls, texts, social media and emails effective immediately.
As part of these preparedness efforts, PG&E is asking customers to:
- Learn whether their home or business is in or near a high fire-threat area on the CPUC High Fire-Threat District map. Customers also can visit pge.com/wildfiresafety to enter their address and find out if their home or business is served by an electric line that may be turned off for safety during high wildfire threats.
- Update their contact information at pge.com/mywildfirealerts or by calling 1-866-743-6589 during normal business hours. PG&E will use this information to alert customers in advance of turning off their electric service for safety, when and where possible.
- Prepare for and practice an emergency plan to keep themselves, their families and/or employees emergency-ready and safe during an outage. Keep in mind family members who are elderly, younger children and pets. Information and tips including a safety plan checklist are available at pge.com/wildfiresafety.
I have an idea. Trim the trees as required by California law instead of turning the power off. Instead of spending many millions on this “Brite” advertising campaign to tell us all how good we have it and that the utility companies have our backs, spend the money on trimming the trees so they don’t come into contact with powerlines, as required by law. Spend the all of the money we rate payers give you to trim the trees doing just that, trimming the trees, not pocketing anything you don’t spend because California allows you, the utility companies, to keep all the tree trimming money they don’t spend, money that comes out of the rates all of us pay for electricity.
With the passage of SB 901, vastly reducing utility company liability for fires they cause, the citizens of this state will see more utility caused wildfires, not fewer. Private utility companies in California (PG&E, SDG&E, and SCE mainly) now have even less reason to spend the rate money we pay on tree trimming because they have foisted their responsibility off on insurance companies. SB 901, which was just signed by Brown, let’s them off the hook. And many are now finding that they cannot get insurance. I wonder why?
It is simply outrageous that PG&E is allowed to turn off OUR electrical power this way. The Public Utilities Commission should do their job and force the utility, which is a public monopoly to do what they are lawfully required to do. The state should begin holding this out-of-control utility accountable!
So how about the state/PGE arranges a deal with a few of the generator manufacturers to give us a substantial break on buying generators for our homes. We could request the purchase order from the state, buy the generator paying the discounted price. The discount is paid directly to the company cutting out the middleman’s take. Of course there would be all the necessary rules involved… It could be tied to our property taxes and APNs. I can live ok for a while without power to the house, but my concern is the well.
If there is a fire, these’s no water to fight it with or run the sprinklers I have on the roof. I have an additional water source. but it would require a pump to pump up hill and some kind of holding tank and reconfiguration of my current water system. There should also be a substantial credit forthcoming when/if PGE does cut power for every day or hour it’s off. That might keep it all to a minimum.
PGE is a for profit business, operating under the “Little Hoover Act’. They pay dividends and bonuses to the management. It’s interesting to me how the PUC has allowed the rates to increase… my bill has more than doubled and I use the exact same KWs as previous years.
Very disappointed in this entire situation. I feel the power was off MUCH longer than was necessary. Ours was off from 9:25 Sun. evening until about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. We do have a generator that we purchased during the Butte fire, but it was hit and miss, run awhile, stop awhile, and my husband at 81 years of age was about ready to stroke out from all the stress. Really physically unable to pull the rope to start the motor when it would stop, he was totally exausted by the end of the day. So I can imagine how it affected a lot of people,.. we need another solution other than what P.G. & E. is advocating.