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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

PG&E to Cut Power to Nearly Half a Million Customers

Utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric announced late Friday that it will shut off power to nearly half a million homes and businesses on Sunday in an effort to prevent new wildfires from starting.

(CN) — Utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric announced late Friday that it will shut off power to nearly half a million homes and businesses on Sunday in an effort to prevent new wildfires from starting.

In a statement released on its website, PG&E plans to cut power to portions of 38 counties, including parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, Central Coast, the Sacramento Valley, and the Sierra Nevada.

Weather forecasters are predicting dry and windy conditions that pose a risk to power equipment that could spark new fires in already dry parts of the state. The utility plans to cut power to approximately 466,000 customers starting Sunday morning, likely restoring service on Tuesday.

"PG&E will then patrol the de-energized lines to ensure they were not damaged during the wind event. PG&E will safely restore power as quickly as possible, with the goal of restoring most customers within 12 daylight hours, based on current weather conditions," the statement read.

Michael Lewis, interim president of PG&E, said in a statement that Sunday "could be our largest" blackout this year.

“Our highest priority is to keep customers and communities safe and execute this event according to our plan and to then quickly restore power to all affected customers when it’s safe to do so,” he said.

The public safety power shutoff will be the fifth one so far this year. Scott Strenfel, PG&E meteorologist, said the weather conditions will be extremely dangerous.

“We’re seeing four extremes in the weather for this potential PSPS event: extremely high winds, extremely low humidity, extreme dry fuels due to the hottest average temperatures over the last six months according to records that go back 126 years, and extreme drought across the territory given lack of rainfall,” he said in a statement.

“While temperatures are expected to drop heading into this event with cold weather expected in some areas, the high winds, low humidity, dry fuels and lack of rainfall continues to result in high fire hazard conditions," he added.

Firefighters are still battling 19 wildfires in the Golden State.

Categories / Business, Environment

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