California utility faces gripes over blackouts

Los Angeles — Even as the winds gusted dangerously just as forecasters predicted, California’s biggest utility faced gripes and second-guessing Thursday for shutting off electricity to millions of people to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires.

Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized Pacific Gas & Electric, and ordinary customers complained about the inconveniences caused by the unprecedented blackouts that began Wednesday, with many wondering: Has PG&E gone too far in its attempt to ward off another deadly fire season? And could the utility have been more targeted in deciding whose electricity was turned off and when?

PG&E, though, suggested it was already seeing the wisdom of its decision borne out. Gusts topping 75 mph raked the San Francisco Bay Area, and relatively small fires broke out around the state amid a bout of dry, windy weather.

“We have had some preliminary reports of damage to our lines. So we’ll have to repair those damages before we can safely energize the line,” spokesman Paul Doherty said.

Because of the dangerous weather in the forecast, PG&E cut power Wednesday to an estimated 2 million people in an area that spanned the San Francisco Bay Area, the wine country north of San Francisco, the agricultural Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills. By Thursday, the number of people in the dark was down to about 1.5 million.

PG&E cast the blackouts as a matter of public safety, aimed at preventing the kind of blazes that have killed scores of people over the past couple of years, destroyed thousands of homes, and run up tens of billions of dollars in claims that drove the company into bankruptcy.