PGE lessens impact of power shutoff areas

Utility company did not blackout Camptonville

Because of improved weather conditions, some 83,000 customers previously expected to lose power due to a planned power shutoff kept the lights on, afterall, according to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

That included the Camptonville area of Yuba County, said Paul Moreno, spokesperson for PGE, in a Wednesday email. Customers in El Dorado, Nevada, Placer and Sierra counties as well as western Sonoma County were also removed from the scope of the shutoff.

However, Moreno said, PGE was continuing to monitor evolving weather conditions, which could have prompted power shutoffs later Wednesday for 14,000 customers in Butte, Plumas and Tehama counties, including about 2,000 customers in Yuba County. Approximately 6,800 of the 14,000 were removed from the event late this afternoon in Tehama, Butte and Yuba counties.

“This is a variable and dynamic weather event so we continue to monitor the forecast closely,” Moreno said.

Russ Brown, public information officer for Yuba County, said, as of around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, that power remained on in Yuba County but a power shutoff by PGE was not ruled out at that point.

Randy Fletcher, Yuba County Board of Supervisors District 5 representative, said people in the foothill area are taking things “a day at a time” when it comes to the PGE power shutoffs.

Fletcher said he imagines that it’s nerve wracking for those affected.

“How do you prepare for your day?” he said. “... What about your refrigerator? Our food we just replaced? It’s just another stress to add to our lives.”

PGE turned power off to approximately 48,000 customers Wednesday morning in portions of Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama and Yolo counties.

According to a press release, winds were expected to subside Thursday morning. Once the all clear is given, inspections and any necessary repairs will be performed before power lines are re-energized. Restoration will occur in stages depending on inspections and any repairs of wind damage to the electric system. Predictions as of Wednesday afternoon pointed to a possible restoration for most customers by late today.

The power shutoff was initiated because strong winds have the potential for damage and hazards to the electric system, which could ignite wildfires if lines are energized.

According to the press release, the original scope for the power shutoff was 300,000 – in addition to the 83,000 customers removed Wednesday morning from the scope of the shutoff, PGE removed about 150,000 customers in six counties from the shutoff scope late Tuesday due to improving weather conditions.

Fletcher said the planned power shutoffs could be a symptom of other problems – such as infrastructure issues but he said a lot of it has to do with forests as well.

“Sometimes, you want to blame PG&E, but nature has a factor into this whole thing,” he said. “... We have to clean and manage our forests.”

Fletcher said this could address issues such as insurance – that private companies could come back into the marketplace and save consumers money – and there could be less of a need for PGE to conduct power shutoffs.

“So much is attached

to the forest, that’s my premise, we have to manage them correctly,” he said. “... We are working

on a plan that makes sense that attaches to all of the issues that are ongoing right now.”