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Approximately 65,000 PG&E customers in San Mateo County will lose power around 5 p.m. today (Oct. 26) as part of the third planned shutoff this month, according to PG&E.
San Mateo County communities that will be impacted include portions of Woodside and Portola Valley, as well as parts of cities stretching as far north as South San Francisco and south to Redwood City, according to PG&E.
PG&E has set up a website where customers can determine whether their power may be turned off. That website is at psps.ss.pge.com/.
All Bay Area counties except San Francisco are expected to have some outages over the next three days. PG&E confirmed this morning it will implement a power shutoff today affecting 940,000 customers — an increase of about 90,000 from previous estimates — in parts of 36 counties. PG&E said Friday that the shutoff could affect nearly 400,000 customers in the Bay Area.
“During the shutdown it is possible that you will lose internet, cell phone service and possibly land line telephone service,” reads a San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services alert (SMC Alert) issued around 11:30 a.m. today, which was signed by Woodside Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Denise Enea. “Plan ahead for medical devices and medication needs. Prepare your home to be without power anywhere from 24-48hrs. Have flashlights fully charged, and other battery operated lighting ready. Have non-perishable food and drinking water available. Know how to manually operate your garage door and any electric gate. Once the power has been shut down unplug or turn off circuits that feed appliances, AV equipment, or motorized equipment such as pumps to prevent damage when power is restored. Do not use generators inside buildings or operate them in dry vegetation.”
In a post on its website Friday, the town of Woodside said that PG&E is scheduled to begin re-energizing power lines at 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28.
“Predictive data models indicate the weather event could be the most powerful in California in decades, with widespread dry Northeast winds between 45-60 miles per hour (mph) and peak gusts of 60-70 mph in the higher elevations,” PG&E said in a statement Friday.
“Winds of this magnitude pose a higher risk of damage and sparks on the electric system and rapid wildfire spread,” PG&E said. “The fire risk is even higher because vegetation on the ground has been dried out by recent wind events.”
The strongest winds are forecast for Saturday evening through Sunday morning in the highest peaks in the North Bay and East Bay. But weather officials said that strong winds will occur in the Santa Cruz Mountains and on the San Mateo County coast, and strong gusts are also expected in adjacent valleys and coastal locations.
On Thursday PG&E began notifying customers who could lose power this weekend via email, text and phone. The utility is advising customers to prepare for a shutoff that could last several days.
This will be the third power shutoff in San Mateo County this month. The move is intended to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire ignitions from its energized power lines that could fall during inclement weather.
About 1,000 customers in San Mateo County, including portions of Woodside, lost power around 1 a.m. Thursday (Oct. 24) as part of PG&E’s planned fire danger-related power shutoff, according to the utility.
The shutoff also affected PG&E customers in La Honda, San Gregorio and unincorporated San Mateo County.
Power was fully restored in San Mateo County just before 6 p.m. Thursday, according to an SMC Alert. Approximately 179,000 customers in 17 Northern California counties lost power.
The San Mateo County Office of Education reported that no public schools closed as a result of the shutoff Thursday.
PG&E also shut off power for hundreds of thousands of customers starting on Oct. 9, including nearly 15,000 customers in San Mateo County. Many streets in Portola Valley and Woodside lost power in that shutoff, and schools in the Portola Valley Elementary School District were closed Oct. 10 as a result. Customers in Portola Valley and Woodside who lost power generally had it restored within about 24 hours.
This weekend’s shutoff could be even bigger than one that began on Oct. 9. Eventually 738,000 customers in 34 counties lost power at some point during that outage. PG&E was widely criticized for its handling of the event, including for poor communication with customers and local governments.
Will schools close Monday?
In an email to staff and families Friday, Portola Valley district Superintendent Roberta Zarea said the district will monitor the situation throughout the weekend.
“I will be in close contact with the Woodside Fire Protection District, the Town of Portola Valley, and the District Cabinet throughout the weekend, but as of now plan for school to be in session as usual with or without power,” she wrote. “If that changes we will inform families via our SMS system.”
The county Office of Education said that if any public schools close Monday, it will include that information on its website.
Related stories:
• PG&E warns of possible power shutoff in Woodside, Portola Valley
• PG&E confirms power will be cut in portions of Woodside early Thursday morning
• Gov. Newsom: PG&E should repay customers affected by public safety power shutoff
Bay City News Service contributed to this report.
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Every PG&E executive and every PG&E regulator should be thrown into prison.
Wow. I’m in agreement with Mr. Davis. Think I’ll sit down for a moment, getting kinda dizzy….
😉
How dare PG&E hold us hostage.
How about they maintain their equipment and clear dry brush or work with other agencies to do so?
We don’t pay them to deprive us of our power, which has become our lifeline in many ways.
With their argument, basically admitting they’re grossly incompetent, they could just turn off everyone’s power for good, and say they’ve now prevented themselves from starting wildfires.
The problem is, besides the obvious, that wildfires can start for other reasons than PG&E’s substandard maintenance of its equipment.
In fact, this happened recently in Los Angeles. Their energy company “proactively” shut down their power–and a fire started anyway.
Customers need to loudly protest against this ill-conceived “preventive” measure.
I am in agreement with those comments previous to mine! But, WHAT can citizens do rather than vent our anger??Eu
Time to get off the grid!
Enough.
NEXT YEAR, VOTE OUT EVERY SINGLE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE IN THE STATE.
California’s politicians are as bad as PGE’s management.
Funny thing…..there is now no one on the state Public Utilities Commission from before 2016. The guilty parties quietly left the building just as it started to burn down. (so to speak)
Why does the Governor not declare a state emergency, shut down PG&E management, and take over its operation?
This is within the State’s power as it is obligated to oversee all public utility services. Here is a service that has failed.
Time to act.
Take it over before they pull a full Enron.
“Every PG&E executive and every PG&E regulator should be thrown into prison.”
Agreed. Break it up. Non-profits.