PG&E says about 250,000 customers could lose power in latest shutoff event in California
Update:
PG&E said late Sunday that as many as 250,000 customers could lose power in the latest round of engineered shutoffs due to high fire danger.
The embattled utility says its emergency operations center may turn off power in portions of 19 counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills, northern Sacramento Valley and the North Bay around Sonoma and Napa counties. Other parts of the Bay Area are not expected to be included in the so-called PSPS, or public safety power shutoff, the company said.
In a statement, the company said: “As of tonight, portions of the following counties could be affected if PG&E moves forward with a PSPS: Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba.”
The utility says it plans to begin notifying customers potentially affected by the deliberate outage as early as Monday morning.
Original story:
PG&E customers should be wary of a possible power shutoff later in the week, as the utility forecasts an elevated chance of planned blackouts.
In its seven-day weather forecast, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said parts of Northern California may see hazardous wildfire conditions, resulting in an increased likelihood that it will implement a public safety power shutoff.
The National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch Sunday afternoon for parts of Northern California for Wednesday and Thursday, forecasting wind gusts up to 50 mph, low daytime humidity and poor overnight recovery.
The NWS expects a mostly dry system will move into Northern California late Tuesday, which could bring gusty winds into the region in the following days.
PG&E forecasters predict that these strong north winds will hit the northern Sierra Nevada and North Coast regions with fast-moving gusts.
“There is still considerable uncertainty regarding the strength, timing and humidity levels with this system. Expect some changes in the forecast moving forward,” PG&E said in its forecast. “Most of northern and central California has not received any significant precipitation this fall and fire potential is well above normal as live fuel moisture remains below critical values for mid-November and dead fuel moisture is at historically low levels in many areas.”
In a Sunday morning statement, PG&E said it is actively monitoring the weather and its current projections indicate possible conditions similar to those that have resulted in power shutoffs for about 180,000 customers — but came short of definitively scheduling a blackout.
Late last month, PG&E turned off the lights in hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Northern California amid a major windstorm.
This story was originally published November 17, 2019 at 10:40 AM.
