oakland, california, January 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — As a historic series of winter storms damaged electrical equipment and caused power outages, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) crews were mobilized throughout Northern and Central California to repair the damage. Evaluate and make repairs to restore power.
In the 24 hours ending at 3pm today, PG&E has safely restored power to more than 406,000 customers. As of 3pm, there were approximately 2,300 outages affecting 95,500 customers, many of them in the North Coast, Bay Area and Central Coast areas. PG&E recognizes the urgency of power restoration and will work diligently until all customers are restored.
Hazards such as fallen trees, floods and debris flows can make access difficult in some areas and delay efforts to restore power. More storms are forecast for the next week, which will also affect recovery times and could lead to more widespread power outages.
“Our crew is doing everything in their power to get our customers back on track safely and as quickly as possible. We have a short window to make as much progress as possible before the next weather system for this series of storms hits our service area this weekend. It’s time for a breakthrough,” said Janisse Quiñones, senior vice president of electricity operations at PG&E.
Bearing the brunt of the atmospheric river storm Wednesday brought gusts of wind in excess of 100 mph and as much as five inches of rain in some areas. This followed a series of previous storms that resulted in soil saturation, fallen trees and debris flows.
PG&E prepared for the weather and mobilized more than 3,000 PG&E colleagues, contractors and mutual aid workers. Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas and Electric, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah and Washington Mutual Aid Corps are also supporting response efforts.
“I would like to thank the thousands of dedicated professionals who are working tirelessly to bring the light back to our homeland,” Quiñones said.
Providing information to customers
Customers can view real-time outage information at PG&E’s Online Outage Center and search by specific address, city or county. This site has been updated to include support for 16 languages.
Additionally, customers can sign up for outage notifications by text, email, or phone. PG&E will inform customers of the cause of the outage, how long the crew will be in transit, the estimated restoration time, and when power will be restored.
storm safety tips
- Never touch a downed wire. If the power line is down, assume it is energized and extremely dangerous. Do not touch or try to move it. Also, keep children and animals away. Call 9-1-1, then PG&E at 1-800-743-5002 to report an outage to the power line immediately.
- Safe use of generators: Customers with standby generators must be properly installed by a qualified electrician in a well-ventilated area. Improperly installed generators pose a significant hazard not only to the crew working on the power lines, but also to their customers. If you use a portable generator, please put it in a well-ventilated place.
- Use a flashlight, not candles. During power outages, use battery-powered flashlights instead of candles due to fire hazards. Also, keep a spare battery handy. If you must use candles, keep them out of reach of drapes, lampshades, animals and small children. Do not leave candles unattended.
- Have a backup phone: If you have a phone system that requires electricity to operate, such as a cordless phone or answering machine, plan to have a standard phone or cell phone as a backup. Having a portable charger helps keep your phone running.
- Bring fresh drinking water and ice. To prevent food spoilage, you can freeze a plastic container with water to make ice blocks and put them in the refrigerator/freezer.
- Turn off the appliance. In the event of a power outage, unplug or turn off all electrical appliances to avoid overloading circuits and preventing fire hazards when power is restored. Just leave one lamp on and it will alert you when power is restored.
- Clean up safely: Be sure to clean up safely after the storm has passed. Never touch downed power lines and be sure to call 8-1-1 or visit 811express.com two business days before digging to safely mark all underground facilities.
Additional tips can be found at the Safety & Preparedness, Storm Safety, and Safety Action Centers.
About PG&EPacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility that serves more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles of Northern and Central California. . For more information, please visit pge.com and pge.com/news.
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Source Pacific Gas and Electric Company
