PG&E’s safety triggers are sparking controversy

Utility changes the sensitivity and speed of equipment, triggering dangerous outages

During this tinder-dry wildfire season, a change to Pacific Gas & Electric’s power lines has dramatically reduced the risk of sparking calamitous and killer blazes.

But every time a rogue squirrel gets zapped, hundreds of rural residents are suddenly plunged into darkness — for hours, sometimes days.

Computer screens go blank. Stoves don’t work. WiFi goes dead. Refrigerators stop cooling.

“It’s like camping,” said Barbara Melchin, a 71-yearold widow who was forced to haul water in buckets during one recent outage in the Santa Cruz Mountains, because her well quit working. “Life is controlled by this thought: ‘Am I going to have power?’ ”

These unplanned outages are different than the nowfamiliar Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPSs), like the one Monday that pre-emptively shut off power for 24,000 customers in 23 counties because of windy weather and high fire risks.

In contrast, the new shutoffs are spontaneous and surprising, often on calm days.

After problems with PG&E’s equipment in past years ignited a series of deadly wildfires, the utility giant’s new strategy — called Enhanced Power Line Safety Settings (EPSS) — adjusts the sensitivity of electric equipment in high fire-threat districts and increases the speed at which a safety device can turn off energy in power lines.

Since its implementation last July, there have been 356 unplanned outages due to disruptions to power lines in PG&E’s service territory, causing chaos among blacked-out customers. There have been about 25 outages in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Power isn’t restored until workers inspect the entire line, sometimes by foot. That can take a long time. Each outage lasts between 9 to 12 hours, on average.

But the new strategy also averted a potential catastrophe last month in the historic town of Coarsegold, near Yosemite, by quickly shutting off power to 6,000 residents when a tree fell on a line during an unexpected lightning storm.

What we’re witnessing is a steep learning curve as the utility tries to prevent the catastrophic wildfires of recent years, said Steven Weissman, former administrative law judge for the California Public Utility Commission, which regulates PG&E, and a lecturer at UC-Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.

“Where do we find that balancing point — where we can significantly reduce the risk of a fire, but at the same time not unnecessarily shut off power?” he said. PG&E “needs to have an opportunity to collect that data before anybody can reach a final judgment about the merits of what it’s doing.”

As climate change contributes to weather extremes, the vulnerability of the state’s power system has become increasingly apparent.

Two lawsuits have been filed on behalf of nearly 200 people alleging PG&E caused this summer’s massive Dixie Fire in Butte County, following several blown fuses and equipment malfunctions. Last month, PG&E was charged with manslaughter after a tree fell onto a line and sparked Shasta County’s 2020 Zogg Fire, killing four people.

PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in a 2018 blaze that nearly destroyed the town of Paradise. The Camp Fire, the nation’s deadliest in a century, was caused when high winds broke worn equipment on an old lattice steel tower, according to the California Public Utilities Commission.

So now PG&E is taking a zero-tolerance approach to “arcing,” which happens when an electric current along a line is interrupted and jumps through the air, releasing sparks.

With 85% of California now suffering from extreme drought, “it’s very, very dangerous,” said PG&E’s Mark Quinlan, vice president of wildfire mitigation operations and execution.

To prevent arcing, lines now shut down at the first sign of interrupted power.

Since the adjusted settings were put in effect, PG&E reports a 60% decrease in potential ignitions between July 28 and Sept. 18, as compared to the same time period last year. With winter rains, more normal settings will be restored, reducing unplanned outages, the utility predicted.

The strategy is targeting regions of the state that are rugged, hard to reach and at highest risk of a large burn, such as parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the East Bay’s Diablo Range.

PG&E has always had the ability to adjust the sensitivity of the line’s safety devices, called reclosures. That’s how workers stay safe while fixing energized lines.

What’s changed is the widespread use of this strategy. Enhanced Power Line Safety Settings have been installed on more than 11,500 miles of lines in 169 circuits that serve 380,000 customers.

Outages can be triggered by a dangerously downed tree — but also by much smaller things. “It could be a squirrel, it could be a bird, it could be a metallic balloon, it could be a car hitting the pole,” said Quinlan.

Even tiny particles of dust, smoke or fog can cause problems. And because power grids are so large, an incident can cause an outage at homes many miles away.

Residents are infuriated by the purposeful denial of service, even as rates increase. While wildfire is dangerous, it’s also dangerous to have blackouts, they say.

“They shut us all down,” said Eric Horton, a thirdgeneration Santa Cruz Mountains resident.

“We need to have both safety and also reliable power,” he said. “Electricity is a critical infrastructure in a modern society.”

Elders and the chronically ill rely on electricity for their medical equipment, he said. People on fixed incomes have lost hundreds of dollars worth of food. Professionals race into town to find a WiFi signal for client meetings.

As soon as the power goes down, hundreds of gas-powered generators promptly fire up, introducing a new source of ignition, Horton noted. When a well runs on electricity, residents are without water, so they can’t douse flames. If there’s a fire, and no landline phones, people can’t make emergency phone calls to get help.

At Angela Yapaola’s home, the power went out in the early hours of Labor Day. Unable to cook breakfast, the family decided to go out to eat. Six-year-old daughter Olivia rushed to get her shoes — and, in the darkness, ran into a wall.

Bleeding from a golfball-sized gouge in the middle of her forehead, Olivia was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital’s emergency room. There a plastic surgeon sewed three layers of stitches, through muscle and skin, to close the wound. The scar may be permanent.

In response to complaints, PG&E says it is trying to tailor its changes. It is fine-tuning its settings and reducing the number of homes on each circuit, so the outages are smaller. It’s cleaning lines. It’s wrapping poles to protect against squirrels. It is also strengthening towers, poles and wires. Eventually, it aims to bury about 10,000 miles of lines.

But other strategies are also important, said Weissman.

It’s important to identify places where power must never be interrupted — where residents, particularly the elderly and lowincome, rely on it for health and safety, he said.

But equally critical, he said, is our personal responsibility to prepare for outages, with candles, flashlights, water, backup batteries and other supplies.

“We need to think about reliability in a different way than we did before,” he said.

“We need to have both safety and also reliable power. Electricity is a critical infrastructure in a modern society.” — Eric Horton