PG&E’s total power failure
No one wants a repeat of the deadly wildfires that devastated California during the past several years.
But the scrambling, shambolic response to the mass PG&E outages that began in the Bay Area on Wednesday morning suggests that there has to be a better way to protect the public.
Let’s start with the obvious: PG&E’s stated goal for its preemptive power shutoffs — a fire safety program it announced last year — is to notify all customers 24 to 48 hours in advance.
For a shutoff of this magnitude, that’s not enough time.
This is the largest planned outage in PG&E’s history, expected to affect more than 800,000 customers in 34 counties. Since each customer account can serve multiple people, millions of Californians could be impacted. These aren’t brief shutoffs, either. They could last up to six days, and PG&E won’t be able to tell you far in advance how long a shutoff in your area will last.
“We can’t begin inspections of our power lines until after the high wind event is over,” said PG&E spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo. “We have a total of 28,000 lines that we’ll need to inspect, and inspections can only be done in the daylight hours. (Restoration of service) also depends on the need for repairs.”
In the meantime, PG&E’s website crashed, Caltrans scrambled for enough generators to keep the Caldecott Tunnel open, and residents jostled for everything from ice to gasoline to child care. Experts are predicting overall cost of just a twoday shutoff to be as large as $2.5 billion.
The stakes are too high for this level of disorganization.
This week’s events are certain to generate even more customer anger against PG&E, which was already embroiled in a bankruptcy filing that’s pitted it against wildfire victims and some of its own bondholders. (The company told us it welcomes customer feedback about these outages; you can do so at https://bit.ly/33mr3e5.)
But Sacramento also needs to be paying attention to this week’s events.
For too long, PG&E has benefited from passive and halfhearted regulation, whether it’s come from the California Public Utilities Commission or state lawmakers. If, as promised, these extended, chaotic shutoffs happen with greater frequency, elected officials should remember the example of former Gov. Gray Davis, ousted in part because of public anger at a poorly managed power grid. When the lights go out in California, it’s more than just PG&E customers who have to pay.