SAN FRANCISCO— Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today provided an update on its accelerated and enhanced safety inspections and repairs conducted in high-fire threat areas over the past six months. These inspections are one part of PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program, which was implemented following the wildfires in 2017 and 2018 to provide additional precautionary measures intended to further reduce wildfire risk. This update is consistent with the commitment of PG&E’s new CEO and Board of Directors to keep their customers informed about the work being done to mitigate wildfire risks and safely deliver energy to their customers and communities.
Through the end of May, PG&E has completed visual inspections of approximately 99 percent of its distribution infrastructure and visual or aerial inspections of approximately 98 percent of its transmission infrastructure in high-fire threat areas. This includes approximately 50,000 electric transmission structures, 700,000 distribution poles and 222 substations, covering more than 5,500 miles of transmission line and 25,200 miles of distribution line.
Throughout the inspection process, PG&E has been addressing and repairing conditions that pose an immediate safety risk, while completing other high-priority repairs on an accelerated basis. Repairs for all other conditions are scheduled to be completed as part of PG&E’s work execution plan.
“We’ve just concluded one of the most advanced inspections of our electric infrastructure in the high-fire threat areas and the number of safety issues we identified is unacceptable,” said Bill Johnson, President and CEO of PG&E. “The safety of our customers and communities must be the driving factor in our approach to maintaining our electric system. The efforts and dedication of the more than 2,000 PG&E employees and contractors during this inspection and repair process is a start in the right direction.”
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PG&E has permanently deenergized the Caribou-Palermo transmission line, which CAL FIRE
identified as an ignition point of the Camp Fire. The line has been out of service since
December 2018. As previously disclosed, during its inspections, PG&E identified a significant
number of high-priority conditions on the Caribou-Palermo line. At the request of the California
Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), PG&E retained Exponent, an independent third-party
scientific and engineering consulting firm, to conduct a records-based review of the transmission
line. PG&E expects that Exponent will conclude its review over the next couple of months.
During the WSIP repair work, PG&E also identified several high-priority issues on one section of
the Ignacio-Alto-Sausalito transmission line that runs through areas of the Golden Gate National
Recreation Area (GGNRA) and serves the city of Sausalito. Ten of the line’s eleven towers in
the GGNRA with high-priority conditions will require complete replacement. PG&E has
commenced preparations for repair work, which will require the construction of a temporary
transmission line to provide electric service while the towers on the permanent transmission line
are replaced and repaired. PG&E is also in the process of assessing additional structures on the
line to determine if additional corrective actions are needed.
PG&E has provided results of the enhanced and accelerated inspections to the CPUC and will
be making the status of the high-priority repairs, organized by city and county, publicly available
on its website on or before July 15.
