No new PG&E shutoffs, but many lack power
Utility checking vast network for signs of damage
The Bay Area was lighting back up again Thursday night, as the winds died down, peak fire danger ebbed and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. began the arduous process of restoring power to customers blacked out across Northern California.
But as the sun went down, hundreds of thousands of customers remained without power, and it appeared likely many would stay in the dark overnight and beyond while PG&E inspected its vast electrical network for signs of damage.
An estimated 2 million people — or 738,000 customer accounts — were blacked out at some point during the historic shutoffs, and 31 percent of those had been restored, PG&E said Thursday evening. The outages affected parts of 34 counties, and all of them had been approved for power restoration, a process could take days
in some communities.
Lights went out late Wednesday and early Thursday in the East Bay and South Bay, affecting more than 150,000 residences and businesses. In North Bay counties, the blackout began a day earlier — and by late Thursday had lasted more than 24 hours for 141,000 customers.
Kern County residents were the last to lose electricity Thursday morning, a few hours after customers in Humboldt County saw their power restored.
PG&E was widely criticized this week for how it handled and communicated the power outages. On Thursday, company executives acknowledged missteps in rolling out the blackouts and getting timely, accurate information to customers.
The utility was “not adequately prepared” for such a large power outage affecting massive swaths of the state, said Bill Johnson, the chief executive, at a news conference in San Francisco. “This is not how we want to serve you.”
The first wave of shutoffs came swiftly and on schedule, but PG&E delayed the second phase by a day as weather conditions shifted. As a result, tensions flared as communities scrambled to prepare. Public officials announced school closures, businesses transported perishables and families stocked freezers with ice, only to find the shutoffs were pushed back several times.
That uncertainty was the most difficult part of preparing for the blackouts, said Amy Worth, an Orinda City Council member. She knew of at least one business that closed unnecessarily Wednesday, believing the power would already be out.
“I think the loss of business has been very tough on our community,” she said. “We have restaurants where the power is actually required to operate the kitchen, a familyrun nail salon that had to close — these are small, single businesses that need the power.”
Before PG&E could turn the power back on, it planned to inspect 2,400 miles of transmission lines and 24,000 miles of distribution lines — a process requiring 45 helicopters and 6,300 people on the ground, according to the state Office of Emergency Services. That effort began Thursday afternoon, leaving communities waiting again.
In some places, the power came back quickly, and officials in affected Bay Area counties said they expected nearly all customers to have electricity again by Friday night. Some San Jose residents reported that power had been restored by 4 p.m. Thursday. Several East Bay towns had electricity an hour or two later.
Officials in Sonoma County, where the outages began early Wednesday, said power was slowly coming back. They expected nearly all customers to be restored by 11 p.m. Friday.
Other communities, especially in more remote parts of the state, were expected to be in the dark for far longer, and possibly through the weekend.
PG&E officials said Thursday evening that inspectors had found evidence of damage that occurred during the shutdowns — and could have started a fire if electrical equipment had been live.
The utility faced intense criticism from every angle before and during the shutoffs, including a backlash on social media and rebukes from politicians. Its website, with information on where the scheduled shutoffs would occur, crashed repeatedly.
Laurie Giammona, the chief customer officer, said that communication channels had become “fragile and unstable at times” during the blackouts. “We accept it, we own it, we will do better,” she said at the PG&E news conference.
Electric companies typically avoid outages whenever possible, but the options for PG&E were leaving millions of Californians in the dark or risking another wildfire like last year’s Camp Fire in Butte County that killed 85 people and destroyed 14,000 homes.
Victims of that fire, which state investigators said was sparked by a PG&E transmission line, have filed more than $7 billion in insurance claims against the company. PG&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January.
“We faced a choice between hardship or safety, and we chose safety,” Michael Lewis, PG&E’s senior vice president for electric operations, said in a statement. “We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and the hardship, but we stand by the decision because the safety of our customers and communities must come first.”
The company paid an immediate financial price for the decision, with its stock price plummeting 29% Thursday. A political price loomed as well as elected officials vowed to hold the company accountable.
“Turning off the power to hundreds of thousands of businesses, public facilities and homes during highwind events may be necessary at the moment, but it cannot be allowed to become the new normal,” said Rep. Jackie Speier, DSan Mateo. “It’s not a sustainable, longterm solution for any community. These highwind events will only become more extreme as climate change continues.”
At a news conference Thursday evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom accused PG&E leaders of putting profits ahead of public safety. “This is not from my perspective a climate change story as much as a story about greed and mismanagement over the course of decades,” he said.
Waiting in the dark, businesses across the Bay Area were assessing the impact of the outage. Stella Ash, an employee for Pizza Rustica in Moraga, was on the phone by 7:30 a.m. Thursday, canceling catering orders while others examined the frozen food supply, the glow from their phone and the rising sun the only sources of light.
“If the freezer was off for longer than 10 hours now, the food will be spoiled,” she said. “So we have to take pictures, go through insurance.”
Forecasts for high winds prompted PG&E’s blackouts. By 4 a.m. Thursday, wind gusts were hitting 72 mph on Mount Diablo and 77 mph on Mount St. Helena in the North Bay.
A fire broke out in Moraga early Thursday morning despite a power outage in the area, with the blaze prompting the evacuation of 150 families. The wildfire started around 1 a.m. and burned about 60 acres. The cause was not immediately known.
In the afternoon, a small vegetation fire broke out under active power lines on San Bruno Mountain in Brisbane, prompting brief voluntary evacuations. It wasn’t immediately clear if the lines sparked the blaze.
In addition to disrupting people’s lives, the outages promise to be expensive. Some estimates peg the cost to businesses and residents at $1 billion to $2.6 billion.
In Sausalito, the New Bait Shop and Deli was selling nonperishable goods using a flashlight and lantern — cash only.
“All my ice cream and deli is gone,” said owner Amber Jiwani. “I’m losing $10,000 a day.”
S.F. Chronicle staff writers Lauren Hernández, Anna Bauman and Steve Rubenstein contributed to this report.