PSPS Update: Essentially All Customers Affected by PSPS Have Been Restored

Update: 07:25 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 7

Essentially all customers affected by PSPS outages have had their power safely restored.

UPDATE: 04:50 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 7

At this time, approximately 85% of the customers impacted by PSPS outages have had their power safely restored.

PSPS-related outages in the following counties have been fully restored: Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Kern, Mendocino, Plumas, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, Tehama, and Yolo.

Crews continue to patrol, inspect, and make repairs in Lake, Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties. Current status of restoration is as follows:

UPDATE: 02:33 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 7 

At this time, approximately 65% of the customers impacted by PSPS outages have had their power safely restored. All customers affected by a PSPS outage have been restored in Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Kern, Mendocino, Plumas, and Stanislaus counties. Crews continue to patrol, inspect, and make repairs where needed.

Current status of restoration is as follows: 

UPDATE: 12:06 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 7 

At this time, approximately 50% of the customers impacted by PSPS outages have had their power safely restored. All customers affected by a PSPS outage have been restored in Contra Costa, Kern, Plumas, and Stanislaus counties. Crews continue to patrol, inspect, and make repairs where needed.

Current status of restoration is as follows: 

UPDATE: 10:03 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 7

At this time, all counties have received weather all-clears, allowing crews to patrol and inspect assets, and make repairs where needed. Current status of restoration is as follows: 

UPDATE: 7:06 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 7

Due to favorable weather conditions last night and early this morning, PG&E issued additional “All Clear” notifications in targeted areas. Crews restarted their patrols at first daylight, and will continue to make repairs where needed and restore power to impacted areas. The following table shows status of all-clears and customers restored as of 6:30 this morning.

UPDATE: 9:15 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 6

A number of counties have been given the weather all-clear for the power restoration process to begin. The next step will be to patrol and inspect beginning during daylight hours tomorrow.

PSPS restoration process

Our goal is to restore power within 24 hours after severe weather has passed.  

Restoration Steps:  

1. Weather “All-Clear”: After high winds have passed, and it is safe to do so, a weather “all-clear” is issued for our crews to begin patrols and inspect electrical equipment.  
2. Patrol and Inspect: Our crews visually inspect for potential weather-related damage to powerlines, poles and towers. This is done by vehicle, foot and air.  
3. Isolate and Repair Damage: If crews find equipment damage, they work to isolate the damaged area from the rest of the system. Other parts of the system can then be restored.  
4. Restore Power: Once the poles, towers and lines are safe to energize, our Control Center restores power to affected areas.  
5. Notify Customers: We notify customers that power has been restored. 

Customers can visit PG&E Outage Center - Latest PSPS Updates to get information on their restoration status. 

UPDATE: 4 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 6

This afternoon, PG&E started to issue weather “all clears” in targeted areas affected by the PSPS event, specifically Stanislaus and Santa Cruz counties and portions of Santa Clara and Alameda counties. After all clears are issued, customers receive an automated update from PG&E on their estimated time of restoration and crews begin patrols, inspecting equipment and making repairs where needed before restoration can begin.

Additional “all clears” are expected today, and the remaining all clears will occur Thursday morning. Barring findings of significant damage to assets or inability to access assets, all PSPS-related restorations are expected to be complete by Thursday evening.

PG&E made contact with essentially all Medical Baseline and self-identified vulnerable customers by phone, text, email or in-person visits to alert them about the PSPS and see if they needed further assistance.

More than 900 customers have visited the various Community Resource Centers since Tuesday, and they will remain open through Thursday to support customers without power.

UPDATE: 9 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 6

As forecasted, fierce winds entered PG&E’s service area last night with peak wind gusts observed at 88 mph in St. Helena in Napa County.

About 22,000 customers have had their power shut off for safety, representing essentially all customers in scope for this Public Safety Power Shutoff event.

PG&E has opened 29 Community Resource Centers throughout the 17 affected counties which offer support to customers without power. Customers can also contact 211 for local support, including locating transportation assistance, hotel support and food options during power outages.

Another 32,000 customers are currently without power due to the impact of the strong winds. About 1,600 crew members are dispatched across PG&E’s service area, responding to inspect and repair equipment to restore power safely and as quickly as possible.

Fire danger is still significant in large portions of our service area, as the National Weather Service has called for widespread Red Flag Warnings through 7 a.m. Thursday in the interior Bay Area and Central Coast, San Francisco and the Peninsula and Santa Cruz region.

With a third weather system moving south, other utilities are similarly conducting or planning for PSPS events.

UPDATE: 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 5

At 6:30 p.m., PG&E began de-energizing customers for safety. The process began with 1,339 customers in Lake and Sonoma Counties. After 7 p.m., 1,019 customers in Napa and Solano counties were also de-energized.

The shutoffs came in advance of forecasted high winds and low humidity. A confirmation message was sent to customers in these areas. The message was sent once power was shut off. 

Public Safety Power Shutoffs will continue into the early morning. Customers might be without service until weather conditions improve on Nov. 7.

Election Day Voting Unaffected by PSPS

PG&E has been preparing for Election Day for over a month. We've planned to prevent outages at voting and tabulation centers. PG&E is monitoring and addressing reports of power outages. We’re aware of one temporary outage at a Santa Rosa polling site. This outage occurred earlier today. In response, PG&E dispatched a generator to that site.

PG&E's service area has 7,000 polling locations and 48 tabulation centers. Five polling locations were identified for a potential PSPS. The locations were in Vacaville, Fairfield, Los Gatos and Lake County. Temporary generation was staged at these locations.

UPDATE: 5 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 5

At 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, PG&E began sending communications that a Public Safety Power Shutoff was likely to about 4,000 customers in Sonoma, Lake, Napa and Solano counties.

If shutoffs for these customers are necessary, they will begin between 6:30 and 7 p.m. tonight, in advance of forecasted high winds and low humidity. Customers will receive a confirmation message once power is shut off or if the shutoffs are delayed or canceled for their area.

Communications to customers in other areas of the Western Sacramento Valley, North Bay and East Bay regions will continue throughout the rest of Tuesday evening, with notifications to customers in Kern County coming early Wednesday morning if shutoffs are necessary there.

At this time, PG&E has not received any reports of active power outages at any polling location in our service area. An outage was reported at a polling location in Santa Rosa, but the site backup generation and service was quickly restored. PG&E has dispatched an additional generator to that site.

UPDATE: 10 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 5

Due to changing weather conditions, PG&E has increased the estimated number of customers that could be impacted by a PSPS event. Currently, 22,000 customers are in scope in 17 counties and four tribal areas. Most of these customers are in the Western Sacramento Valley, the North Bay and in the elevated terrain of the East Bay.

PG&E remains focused on preparing for a safe PSPS and ensuring that any potential impacts to voters on election day are mitigated. PG&E has staged temporary generation at five polling locations that are within the scope of the PSPS, as well as near tabulation centers across our service area.

“We know losing power is disruptive any day of the year, and especially on such an important day as today. We’ve been preparing for Election Day for over a month and are taking extraordinary measures to prevent outages at voting and tabulation centers, and pre-staging resources to quickly restore any service outages. Free and fair elections are a hallmark of our democracy, and we’re ready and proud to do our part to ensure that happens,” said Mark Quinlan, PG&E senior vice president, Wildfire, Emergency and Operations.

PG&E began sending notices to customers in the early evening of Sunday, Nov. 3. These went to areas where PG&E may proactively turn power off. This is done to reduce the risk of wildfire from energized power lines. Visit PG&E's Outage Center to see if your county or home address falls within the affected areas.

UPDATE: 8:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 4

As of 8:30 p.m. on Monday (Nov. 4), PG&E estimates that 20,142 customers in 17 counties and four tribal areas are in scope for this PSPS event. Most of these customers are located in three areas. They include: western Sacramento Valley, North Bay and in the elevated terrain of the East Bay.

PG&E began sending notices to customers in the early evening of Sunday, Nov. 3. These went to areas where PG&E may proactively turn power off. This is done to reduce the risk of wildfire from energized power lines. Visit PG&E's Outage Center to see if your county or home address falls within the affected areas.

Winds forecasted to increase

PG&E meteorologists and operations professionals are monitoring a potential wind event. It's forecasted to enter parts of the service area late Tuesday through Thursday morning.

Recent precipitation has lowered fire potential. However, fuels are expected to dry out over the next couple of days. The dry and breezy conditions will lead to elevated fire weather concerns when stronger winds occur mid-week.

PG&E's machine learning wind models are showing these kinds of gusts:

• Above 50 mph over elevated terrain in the North and East Bay
• Near or above 70 mph in the Geysers, Mt. St. Helena and Mt. Diablo.

Fire risk will increase under the strong and dry winds. This is because humidity is expected to drop to 15-30% in windy areas. The criteria for calling a PSPS event are forecasted to be met on Tuesday night. This includes low relative humidity, diminished moisture of vegetation and gusting wind conditions.

Election Day coverage

PG&E has been working with state and local election officials for more than a month to prepare for the Tuesday, Nov. 5 Election Day.

There are 7,000 polling locations in PG&E’s service area and 48 tabulation centers. No tabulation centers are currently within the scope of the PSPS. Five polling locations have been identified as being in scope for a potential PSPS. PG&E has delivered temporary generation for each of these polling locations. However, if power needs to be shut off for safety, it would occur after in-person voting has ended.

The polling locations include:

• Girl Scout House, 3351 Hillridge Drive, Fairfield (Solano County)
• Orchard School, 805 North Orchard Avenue, Vacaville (Solano County)
• Moose Lodge, 6585 Canyon Road, Vacaville (Solano County)
• Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown (Lake County)
• Lakeside Elementary School, 19621 Black Road, Los Gatos (Santa Clara County). 

7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 3

As of 7 p.m. on Sunday (Nov. 3), PG&E began notifications of a potential Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) that may shut off power for safety to approximately 15,000 customers in 17 counties and 3 tribal areas, with first outages on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the earliest, if weather conditions do not improve.

The criteria for calling a PSPS event—low relative humidity, diminished moisture of vegetation and gusting wind conditions— are forecasted to be met on Tuesday night.

Customers in the affected areas have been notified via email, phone call or text to help them prepare for power outages.  Visit PG&E's Outage Center to see if your county or home address falls within the affected areas.

PG&E preparations for the election

PG&E is aware of the importance of any election, and the special concerns around this year’s presidential election. We began preparing more than a month ago to ensure reliable electric and gas service leading up to the election and through the counting of results. Here are some facts about our preparations:

• Working with state and local election officials we identified more than 7,000 Election Day polling locations in PG&E's service area as well as 48 tabulation centers. We continue to stay in contact with election officials to be able to respond to any power issues or needs that may arise.
• We immediately compared maps of the areas that could be potentially impacted by this week’s potential Public Safety Power Shutoff event with known locations of election facilities.
  • Tabulation Centers: No tabulation centers are currently in the scope of the PSPS. We also verified that each of the 48 tabulation centers have backup generation.
  • Polling Locations: As of 1030 Monday, two polling locations have been identified as being “in scope” for the PSPS – the Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center in Lake County, and Lakeside Elementary School in Los Gatos.  At both polling sites, the potential power shutoffs are planned for after the polls close at 8 p.m. We are staging temporary generation at both locations out of an abundance of caution.
• In addition to these specific sites, we have made plans to stage crews and emergency materials, including generators, across our service territory to quickly restore any unplanned or emergency outages that could potentially impact the election.
• Our Emergency Operations Center and regional Operational Emergency Centers are open for the PSPS and election preparations, and we are fully staffed to respond to any outages that may occur.