PG&E Safety Shutoff To Impact 871 Solano County Customers

Maggie Fusek
Updated ·5 min read

SOLANO COUNTY, CA — Pacific Gas and Electric Company said given the strong and dry wind conditions expected to start Wednesday evening, the utility company may need to again proactively turn off power to as many as 54,000 PG&E customers — including 871 in Solano County — for safety to reduce the risk of wildfire from energized power lines.

UPDATE: PG&E confirmed Wednesday afternoon it plans to shut off power between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Wednesday to 871 customers in unincorporated Solano County.

In addition to customers in the North Bay mountains near Mount St. Helena, the potential public safety outage could impact customers in targeted portions of 24 counties in the Northern Sierra Nevada foothills; the mid and higher elevations in the Sierra generally north of Yosemite; small pockets in the East Bay near Mt. Diablo; a pocket of the Oakland Hills east of Piedmont (generally between highway 24 and Upper San Leandro Reservoir); the elevated terrain east of Milpitas around the Calaveras Reservoir; and portions of the Santa Cruz and Big Sur mountains.

Specifically, customers in portions of the following counties were being notified: Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Humboldt, Lake, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba.

A small number of customers in two tribal communities also may be affected.

Additional customer notifications will be issued closer to the potential event.

"Customer notifications—via text, email and automated phone call—began late Monday afternoon, approximately two days prior to the potential shutoff," PG&E said. "Customers enrolled in the company’s Medical Baseline Program who do not verify that they have received these important safety communications will be individually visited by a PG&E employee with a knock on their door when possible. A primary focus will be given to customers who rely on electricity for critical life-sustaining equipment."

Additional customer notifications will be issued closer to the potential event.

Potentially Impacted Counties

The number of customers impacted by the potential shutoff represents about 1 percent of the 5.4 million customers within PG&E’s service territory.

In the Bay Area, about 22,109 customers — 05. percent — in seven counties would be impacted.

  • Alameda County: 5,405 customers, 214 Medical Baseline customers

  • Amador County: 57 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers

  • Butte County: 11,315 customers, 982 Medical Baseline customers

  • Calaveras County: 262 customers, 17 Medical Baseline customers

  • Contra Costa County: 929 customers, 61 Medical Baseline customers

  • El Dorado County: 1,654 customers, 73 Medical Baseline customers

  • Humboldt County: 187 customers, 1 Medical Baseline customer

  • Lake County: 82 customers, 5 Medical Baseline customers

  • Monterey County: 1,084 customers, 20 Medical Baseline customers

  • Napa County: 9,230 customers, 315 Medical Baseline customers

  • Nevada County: 224 customers, 6 Medical Baseline customers

  • Placer County: 389 customers, 13 Medical Baseline customers

  • Plumas County: 1,855 customers, 103 Medical Baseline customers

  • San Mateo County: 1,683 customers, 56 Medical Baseline customers

  • Santa Clara County: 2,210 customers, 103 Medical Baseline customers

  • Santa Cruz County: 6,024 customers, 406 Medical Baseline customers

  • Shasta County: 4,697 customers, 396 Medical Baseline customers

  • Sierra County: 1,052 customers, 24 Medical Baseline customers

  • Solano County: 871 customers, 66 Medical Baseline customers

  • Sonoma County: 1,781 customers, 65 Medical Baseline customers

  • Tehama County: 1,230 customers, 58 Medical Baseline customers

  • Trinity County: 178 customers, 10 Medical Baseline customers

  • Yolo County: 10 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers

  • Yuba County: 1,841 customers, 141 Medical Baseline customers

  • Total: 54,252 customers, 3,135 Medical Baseline customers

Customers can look up their address online to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at Pge.com/pspsupdates.

Power would be restored once the red flag warning wind event subsides and PG&E crews are able to inspect equipment for any damages.

The National Weather Service San Francisco Bay Area issued a red flag warning for the North Bay valleys and mountains, East Bay valleys and hills, and the Santa Cruz ,mountains from 5 a.m. Wednesday through 11 a.m. Friday.

"Winds will steadily increase over the highest peaks and ridges to 15 to 30 mph, with gusts generally from 35-45, with maximum gusts up to 55 mph possible at the highest peaks," the weather service said. "Valley winds are expected to be out of the north-northeast from 10-20 mph with gusts around 30 mph. These offshore winds will provide critical fire conditions with dry humidity values through the event, and even drier conditions overnight with poor humidity recovery expected due to the lack of marine layer."

Community Resource Centers

For those impacted by the shutoff, PG&E would open community resource centers giving customers access to restrooms and hand-washing stations; medical-equipment charging; Wi-Fi; bottled water; and non-perishable snacks.

Requirements to guard against the spread of the coronavirus at the CRCs would include facial coverings and maintaining a physical distance of at least 6 feet from those who are not part of the same household. PG&E will administer temperature checks prior to allowing customers to enter any of the indoor CRCs

In addition to using existing indoor facilities, PG&E is planning to open CRCs at outdoor, open-air sites in some locations and use large commercial vans as CRCs in other locations.

This article originally appeared on the Benicia Patch