Strong, dry winds across large areas of Northern and Central California may prompt PG&E to turn off power across 30 counties Wednesday and Thursday.
Customers in seven of the Bay Area’s nine counties could be affected, including those in Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Sonoma counties, according to PG&E.
Starting Wednesday morning and persisting through Thursday afternoon, the dry and windy weather is expected to hit the northern end of PG&E’s service area then spread into Central California and the Bay Area.
The National Weather Service has called a Fire Weather Watch to go from Tuesday night through Thursday, including parts of the North and East Bay as well as the Santa Cruz Mountains. Forecasters say it’s likely to be
the strongest offshore wind event of the 2019 fire season.
PG&E is asking customers to get ready by updating their contact information so they can be notified when electrical service powers down and gets restored, and to plan ahead for any medical needs that require refrigeration or devices that need electricity to run.
Anyone using a backup generator to get through the shutoff is advised to be aware that generators pose unusual hazards not typically associated with grid power. People should make sure to vent the generator’s exhaust outside to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, and avoid running portable generators in the garage.
17 comments
And boy howdy, that generator better not disturb my sleep if I’m getting any either.
You’ll sleep your best ever when the power is Out. No wifi, no smart meters, no dirty electricity.
At least we get a warning a decent amount if time before the possible event.
The forecast on the Weather Channel website isn’t so dramatic. Wednesday winds about 15mph in our area, with a humidity predicted to be 27%, and an temperatures average around 78degrees.
I got got a robocall from some school district in Piercy,CA. (it looks hours north of Ukiah.) It said something about PG&E. This is not the first time I have heard from them but I have no interest in their news. Unfortunately the man did not enunciate when he said the name. When I call back I got a recording saying contact your school district, again without naming it.
And here we witness the results of excessive government interference with business: backbone utility grids having downtime like in a third world nation.
If CA wants to regulate a business into the ground, then the business needs to protect itself excessively, and thus we have widespread shut offs during not-so-threatening weather.
PG&E wasn’t regulated to the ground. They were allowed to operate with 100 year old transmission towers, broken equipment, and they weren’t vigilantly pruning trees near the power lines in high fire risk areas. PG&E power lines were directly linked to massive fires in 2017 and 2018. Now they are bankrupt, and can’t afford another catastrophe
If the weather isn’t a threat tomorrow, the power won’t be turned off. PG&E won’t make money if they turn off the power for no reason at all. If the weather is stable this week, the power stays on.
Some meteorologists were predicating dry gusts, but other forecasters are predicting normal weather. It’s most likely the case that East Bay region won’t lose power. Current forecasts on weather websites are indicating moderately calm weather for the rest of the week in our region of California.
Watch out for people starting fires. More of them have been intentionally set than not.
Yep RC you nailed it on the head.
If they actually shut everything down during one of these events, not only won’t the refrigerator work, the cooktop and oven won’t work, either. All the signals will be non-operational making driving a mess. Will police be out directing traffic at major intersections? Schools will have to close temporarily since they will have no light or heat. Business won’t have electricity so can’t accept credit or debit cards or operate cash registers. So, if the event lasts days as they say it might, do businesses close until power is restored? This may help to make California not the economic powerhouse Newsom brags about. In fact, it sounds like a disaster in the making when imposed on the scale they are proposing. They can’t even be more specific than 30 counties might be effected? I’m all for the safest alternative, but this seems a bit like overkill.
Seems to me like the stockholders need to be held accountable for the disruption this will cause, loss of life, loss of income, and loss of property. They’re going to go right ahead collecting their dividends, the execs will get their salary and bonuses, the CPUC the same. Who gets hurt by this, the elderly and disabled on medical equipment, the poor who lose everything in their refrigerator, kids who can’t attend school and their parents who must now find alternative childcare or miss work. This is going to eventually cost us all money while PGE gets its act together. Personally, I don’t have $1000 to throw at a generator and I’m a little disgusted this is the best they could come up with.
Since PG&E has installed all those ‘smart meters’ all over the place, they should be able to easily record all of the ‘non-service’ hours each household will hit with. Then that should be deducted from our monthly bills……its only fair.
You pay in kilowatt hours. No different than if you shut your main breaker off for two days = you would show no usage for two days which you would not be paying for.
If anything the telecom should be refunding us when the internet is down, my bill is $40 no matter what.
And even if the winds don’t knock down power lines because of fallen trees and you still have power you may not still have Internet. Just take a look at your neighbors trees many of which around here are growing into the cable lines. Unlike PG&E these companies don’t come around and trim back the branches.
Every tree belongs to somebody. Property owners should be liable for any damage caused by vegetation on their property. This includes public property. People who don’t want a defensible space around their own property can pay the price. I should not have to go without power because someone wants to live in the forest.
Following the wind forecast period I hope that every foot of power line is inspected to see if any damage was done that might have started a fire.
Yes, you can have it both ways.
We are supposed to have uninterrupted and safe utilities, that’s why we pay more than just about any other ratepayers in the US.
PG&E did not inspect/repair power lines or gas lines to keep them safe and reliable. They had the money, they just didn’t do the job.
PG&E needs to be removed from CA and a new company needs to be brought in to manage our utilities.
You have complaints, then talk to the CPUC instead of whining here.
It’s pointless to complain to the CPUC. They have a form you can use on their website to file complaints. I have complained several times about various infractions. For example, I wanted my Smart Meter removed. PGE said, “Sure, we’ll remove it but it will cost you.” Since I didn’t agree to have it installed in the first place, I didn’t feel I should have to pay to have something removed I didn’t want. PGE told me the CPUC forces them to charge customers who want their Smart Meter removed and to file a complaint with the CPUC. I did, and the CPUC politely told me they didn’t care, I’d have to pay for it to be removed anyway. Other complaints I’ve made have been met with the same bureaucratic “We can’t be bothered.”
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