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Adding up the losses: effects of PG&E shutoff on East Bay businesses

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Published  October 11, 2019 6:09pm PDT
PG&E
KTVU FOX 2

Some East Bay businesses reopen following power shutdown

Frustrations continued Friday as business owners and customers alike discover if their power is back. Greg Liggins reports.

ORINDA, Calif. - Even though the lights are back in Orinda and other parts of the East Bay, not all businesses are up and running.

Several businesses are still feeling the hangover from the power outage.

In Oakland's Montclair district, electricity may be flowing, but not everyone is operating as normal.

At the Fifth Quarter Charcuterie, which sells premium meats and sandwiches, the power outage cutoff nearly $5000 in revenue.

"This is our third day closed.  Several thousand dollars because we're really busy around here for sandwiches and things like that. And Friday is a very good day for meats for the weekend and things like that," said owner Scott Brennan.

They're back butchering meat today, preparing to replenish supply in time for Saturdays re-opening.

At Montclair Florist, the outage led to spoiled product and no phone or online orders, the bulk of the business.

"Even though they tried to call and tried online and they tried so hard and cannot get through. Do you think anybody will keep on trying and trying again?, " said Maria Chan.

A text message alerted Orinda residents that power had been restored this morning.

For this seamstress, a lost day of business meant a backlog of orders.

Next door on the same street, no work was being done.

The CVS was closed, as well as two restaurants.

Even though power was restored this morning, there were indications restoration could have been delayed until the evening,  which may explain why Europa was shut down all day.

"Then Europa guy came at about ten o'clock here.  For some reason he passed by here and saw the light. He was so upset. They said 6 o'clock the electric is on so he closed the store," said Kilja Kim.

For this recent New York transplant, the massive outage was a new lesson in drastic measures taken to prevent west coast wildfires.  

"I was just blown away.  I didn't know that a whole state could basically just pull the plug. I never heard of that before," said Laura Tucker.

The only positive outcome according to one business owner, "if there is a next time, hopefully, businesses and homeowners will be better prepared."