Prompted by forecasts of powerful winds, PG&E confirmed that public safety power shutoffs for 940,000 customers across 36 counties have started as of 2 p.m. today.
All Bay Area counties except San Francisco will have outages, and about 400,000 customers in the region could lose power by this evening.
The utility initially estimated that 850,000 total customers would be affected, but increased that number by 90,000 on Saturday to 940,000.
PG&E said customers should prepare for shutdown lasting 48 hours or longer, because lines must be inspected before power can be turned back on.
The power shutoffs are expected to happen in six stages.
The first counties to be affected, at 2 p.m., will be Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, Sierra, Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama and Yuba.
The second phase about 4 p.m. will impact customers in Lake, Marin, Mendocino (south), Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
Phase three will start about 5 p.m. for customers in Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Stanislaus counties.
The fourth phase will start at 5 p.m. for Alpine, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne counties.
Phase five will start about 5 p.m. for customers in Humboldt, Mendocino (north) and Trinity counties.
The sixth and final phase will be at 10 a.m. Sunday for Kern County.
Customers can determine if their address may be impacted by visiting THIS WEBSITE.
PG&E officials said that forecasted high winds and dry air could be one of the most powerful wind events in Northern California in decades, with widespread winds of up to 60 mph and gusts reaching up to 70 mph in higher elevations.
The shutdown could be larger than one that began on Oct. 9. Eventually 738,000 customers in 34 counties lost power at some point during that outage. PG&E was widely criticized for its handling of the event, including for poor communication with customers and local governments.
PG&E has been shutting off power proactively to prevent wildfires after utility lines started massively deadly and destructive fires over the last two years. PG&E has estimated that similar power shutoffs may be necessary for the next decade until the utility can upgrade its technology.
But despite a power shutoff in Sonoma County on Wednesday night, an investigation has begun into damaged PG&E equipment found near the origin of the Kincade fire.
The blaze had grown to more than 25,455 acres and destroyed 49 structures as of Saturday morning and was only 10 percent contained.
23 comments
Oh NO! Close the Libraries; Post Office; close the schools for the week. Cancel all public meetings… Fire up your smokers; Brisket GOOD! Gas up the leaf blowers to blow the smoke away… We will SURVIVE! (Oh, and also flush your meds down the toilet and pour your used motor oil in the backyard for weed control).
We all are paying PG&E a minimum delivery charge to help pay for the cost of delivering power thru their transmission system. If they shut off power, shouldn’t we get a reduction of the charge?
The delivery or procurement fees are the same whether you use power for one day or 30 days.
The only way to not pay is to have them come out and lock both gas and electric meters.
Sorry to hear that. I’m looking for any way to punish the criminal element overseeing our energy needs.
“All Bay Area counties except San Francisco will have outages”
I guess there are advantages to having the House Speaker and both US Sentators from your county.
Stay safe folks, looks like it’s really happening this time.
This PGE PSPS website appears to be excluding all Alameda addresses from the drop down menu.
Is it because pg&e only supplies gas to Alameda?
Alameda has its own electric company. Alameda Municipal Power, founded in 1887 and one of the oldest power companies in the nation, public or private. It is the oldest municipal power company in California. It is governed by an independent Public Utilities Board. They report on their website that they do not expect to be effected by the PGE power shutoffs.
Thank you for the information! That makes a lot of sense.
The Lame Stream Media persists in calling this a “Power Emergency”…really ? Looks like an ass saving ‘power shutoff to me.And a little late again as they have already started a major blaze in Sonoma County. But no worries, Gavin Useless is on the scene to make everything better.
How can PG&E have jurisdiction over counties and states they don’t service?
I love these new replacement words …WIND EVENTS and DE-ENERGIZING…. so dramatic!! In the end, you have to ask yourself 1 important question. Who profits?
Certainly not Victronica, who can not distinguish between County of Nevada, California and State of Nevada, United States of America.
Time to go back to your avocado toast…..
Yes. Gray Davis was recalled because of his support of rolling blackouts. Now with Gavin Newsom PG&E are at it again. The words are changed but the result is the same. A lot of people know the fires last year were helped by arsonists.. .and of course the eco nuts. They block efforts to make fire breaks to prevent fires spreading.
I agree, Mary F is a solid person.
Glad im near Bart for the first time in a long time.They don’t dare cut the power near any rapid transit.This why SF is spared.It all runs on electricity,and you don’t dare upset the liberals.
How does PG&E shut off power to counties and neighborhing state (NV) that they don’t even service?
It’s not the state of Nevada, it’s Nevada County which is in California.
Well its 7:25, latest change puts the shutoff time around 8:00. Looks like 95% of Concord will dodge the bullet. The shutoff area is mostly a quarter mile wide swath that follows Kirker Pass Rd. I’m a block south of Kirker Pass.
Oh well, we’ll see what happens. The irony is, all utilities in Kirkwood are underground.
So for those of you who don’t know it, Healdsburg, Windsor, and adjacent unincorporated areas were all evacuated today. My south PH home was in the last power shutoff, but not this one. And for those of you who mock me for being prepared with a chest freezer full of meat from Stemple Creek Ranch and my sourdough bread, well that all came into play today.
Hosting 2 families from the evac area for a couple of days. Chest freezer was awesome, Carne Asada stir fried meat and soft shelled tacos and beans for dinner. Plenty of food for the next days, including produce in fridge/garden. Kids will help me prep sourdough bread dough after this post, and maybe mix up some cookie dough for baking tomorrow if cookies low in the freezer.
Goodness gracious, I might even have an illegal goat in my back yard for a couple of days.
So many of you need to be more in touch as to what is going on in our greater area. Other than speaking down to someone who prepares. Mary Fouts
Thank God for people like you. Thank you.
Mary Fouts, I doff my hat to you. How did you connect with the family? I’ve wanted a goat in the yard practically my whole life.
Mary – Thank you for hosting families who’ve evacuated. We’ve done it in San Diego (wild fires) and Lamorinda (Paradise fires). It’s very rewarding, and a win-win situation. Lamorinda is getting hit hard with power outages, including a wild fire in Moraga (Sanders Ranch) recently, so we’re of no help to anyone right now. Thankfully, you are. Bless you…
I watched the PG&E press conference, and they were saying it’s all being done for public safety. That is understandable, but what seems a little off is that there are all these huge fires popping off…something just doesn’t smell right.
Y’all need to move to Modesto………we have MID out here……..or Turlock………they have TID……..no shutoffs….woot woot!
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