PG&E: Power restored to 74 percent of customers in impacted areas

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PG&E crews check lines during a forced power safety shutoff. Oct. 10, 2019

SAN FRANCISCO - PG&E released the latest power outage numbers early Friday afternoon showing that some counties are fully or nearly fully restored, and other counties, such as Kern, Lake, Merced and Plumas counties range from zero to 3 percent back to normal power. Overall, 74 percent of customers in impacted areas had their power restored.

The Bay Area fared relatively well. By Friday afternoon Alameda County was 86 percent restored and Contra Costa County was 95 percent restored. Santa Clara County was 94 percent restored, but that didn't stop San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and other politicians from blasting the utility for proactively shutting off power during the high wind, high fire season. Liccardo said the outages, which began Tuesday night, cost his city $500,000 and he expects to be paid back.

“What is a minor inconvenience for a few hours becomes a major public health and public safety hazard over several days,” Liccardo said at a Thursday news conference. “We critically need to ensure these power shutdowns do not last more than a few hours.”

Thousands without power in Contra Costa County

Thousands were still without power in Contra Costa County on Friday because of a planned power shutoff. Allie Rasmus reports

State Sen. Jerry Hill and other politicians questioned why PG&E is the sole decision maker in turning off the power and pointed out that shut-offs are evidence the utility hasn’t properly upgraded its electrical grid. They said PG&E must modernize its system so it can switch off power in fire-prone spots without widespread blackouts.

In a statement, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna said: “It’s completely unacceptable for customers in the heart of the technology revolution to be subjected to this mass electricity outage. I support efforts to minimize the potential for horrific wildfires, but this is not how it should be done. PG&E has paid out millions in bonuses and neglected vegetation management for years. We need investment in smart grids and localized power generation, and bring our power grid into the 21st century. There’s no excuse for this kind of neglect.”

That follows on the heels of what Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Thursday, blaming PG&E for years of "greed and mismanagement."

PG&E says it must shut off power during dry, windy weather to keep its equipment from sparking more wildfires like those that killed scores of Californians in 2017 and 2018.

Speaking Thursday evening, Bill Johnson, PG&E’s CEO, apologized for the agency’s poor communication and overloaded call centers at a press conference Thursday evening. “We were not adequately prepared,” he said.

But he defended the blackouts, adding “we faced a choice here between hardship on everyone and safety, and we chose safety.”