Thursday update:
Due to favorable weather conditions last night and early this morning, PG&E issued additional “All Clear” notifications in targeted areas. Crews restarted their patrols at first daylight, and will continue to make repairs where needed and restore power to impacted areas. The following table shows status of all-clears and customers restored as of 6:30 this morning. In Lake County, 70 percent of the 1,092 customers are in areas where the all clear has been given, so patrols are going on as we speak. Once we have patrolled the impacted lines and cleared any hazards, restoration can begin.
More than 900 customers have visited the various Community Resource Centers since Tuesday, and they will remain open through Thursday to support customers without power. For Live Oaks Senior Center and Twin Pines, the hours today are 8: a.m to 10 p.m.
Lake County residents can search by area or by address: PG&E Outage Center –
PG&E spokesperson Megan McFarland noted that the main criteria for calling this PSPS was low relative humidity, diminished moisture of vegetation and gusting wind conditions. “We called this PSPS because fire risk was very high under the strong and dry winds and relative humidity dropped 15-30% in windy areas,” she said.
OAKLAND, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) meteorologists and operations professionals continued to monitor a potential wind event forecasted to enter parts of its service area at press time, late Tuesday through Thursday morning which company officials noted could proactively shut off power for to approximately 22,000 Customers Across 17 Counties, including the County of Lake.
Although recent precipitation has lowered fire potential, fuel conditions have worsened over the last few days under dry and strong winds, which a PG&E spokesperson said has led to elevated fire weather concerns if winds began to strengthen Tuesday evening.
Based on these conditions, approximately 22,000 customers are in scope for a potential Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS). This is a roughly 7,000 customer increase from earlier estimates due to evolving weather conditions.
PG&E sent advanced notifications to customers—via text, email, and automated phone call—in targeted areas where power may need to be proactively shut off for safety to reduce wildfire risk. In-scope customers are primarily located in western Sacramento Valley, North Bay and elevated terrain in the East Bay. As in previous PSPS events, the duration and extent of power outages will depend on the weather in each area, and not all customers will be affected for the entire period.
The potential PSPS event could affect approximately 22,000 customers in portions of these Alameda County, Butte County, Colusa County, among others including 1,168 customers (84 Medical Baseline customers) in Lake County.
When possible, PG&E representatives will make individual, in-person visits to customers enrolled in the company’s Medical Baseline Program. These are customers who do not verify they’ve received important safety communications. The primary focus will be on customers who rely on electricity for critical life-sustaining equipment.
Customer Support
During PSPS events, PG&E opens Community Resource Centers so community members can access resources, including:
- A safe location to meet their basic power needs, such as charging medical equipment and electronic devices
- Up-to-date information about the PSPS
- Water, snacks, blankets, ADA-accessible restrooms and other essential items to reduce hardships to customers.
A CRC opened Tuesday outside of the Twin Pine Casino and Hotel in Middletown and at the Live Oaks Senior Center parking lot in Clearlake Oaks.
Ensuring no Election Day impact
PG&E worked with state and local election officials for more than a month to prepare for Tuesday’s Election Day
Although there are 7,000 Election Day polling locations in PG&E’s service area and 48 tabulation centers, officials noted they had identified five polling locations in three counties within the PSPS scope. PG&E staged temporary generation to ensure votes could still be cast without any disruption.
“We know losing power is disruptive any day of the year, and especially on such an important day as Election Day. We’ve been preparing for Election Day for over a month,” noted Senior Vice President, Wildfire and Emergency and Operations Mark Quinlan. He added that the utility took extraordinary measures to prevent outages at voting and tabulation centers, and pre-staging resources to quickly restore any service outages.
“Free and fair elections are a hallmark of our democracy, and we’re ready and proud to do our part to ensure that happens,” said Quinlan at press time.
No tabulation centers were in the scope of the PSPS.
Customers can look up their address online to see if their location is being monitored for the potential PSPS at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
