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PG&E is estimating that 907 customers in 10 San Mateo County communities, including Portola Valley and Woodside, may lose power at 1 a.m. on Thursday as the utility prepares for another power shutoff to avert the possibility of igniting a wildfire.
Other San Mateo County communities that could be affected include Emerald Hills, Half Moon Bay, La Honda, Loma Mar, Pescadero, Redwood City and San Gregorio, according to a PG&E update Tuesday morning.
The utility had initially said Monday afternoon that nearly 6,500 customers throughout the county and about 209,000 in 15 counties could lose power. Just short of 15,000 customers in San Mateo County lost power during a planned shutoff earlier this month, and those in Portola Valley and Woodside who lost power then generally had it restored within about 24 hours.
PG&E anticipates it will decide whether to shut off power by 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to a news release from Michelle Durand, chief communications officer for San Mateo County. If a shutoff occurs, PG&E will begin restoring power by noon Thursday, Durand said.
The potential shutoff is “planned for varying start times depending on location beginning Wednesday evening,” PG&E said. The utility is advising customers to prepare for a shutoff that could exceed two days.
PG&E President and CEO William Johnson said the company has set up a sister website where customers can determine whether their power will be shut off. That website is at psps.ss.pge.com/.
The announcement is in response to a dry, offshore wind event, PG&E officials said. The shutoff is intended to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire ignitions from its energized power lines that could fall during inclement weather.
Customers were notified by text and automated phone calls Monday afternoon, and PG&E said an employee will knock on the doors of customers with medical issues who are enrolled in its Medical Baseline program.
PG&E officials said they will focus their efforts on those customers who need electricity for life sustaining equipment.
The officials said its meteorological and operations teams’ models show wind gusts may exceed 55 mph late Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon for portions of the Sierra Foothills. Winds between 35 and 45 mph with some 55 mph gusts in localized areas are forecast for Sonoma and Napa counties.
Similar weather patterns prompted PG&E to proactively shut off power] for hundreds of thousands of customers starting on Oct. 9. 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.
According to PG&E’s website, Woodside Priory and Ormondale School could lose power in the event of a shutoff.
Roberta Zarea, superintendent of the Portola Valley school district, said in an email Tuesday afternoon that staff is “prepared to continue teaching” if a shutoff occurs.
“We are continuing to monitor the situation and will decide if school will remain open based on wild fire danger,” she wrote.
There are no mandatory circumstances under which PG&E will take action to shut off power to a given area, but possibilities include a “red flag warning” declared by the National Weather Service; humidity levels of 20% and below; predicted sustained winds generally above 25 mph and wind gusts of 45 mph; conditions with dry fuel on the ground and live vegetation; and on-site observations from PG&E field crews, according to utility spokeswoman Andrea Menniti.
The website at pge.com/weather predicts the potential for power shutoffs for the upcoming week in various regions of its service area.
PG&E announced earlier this year that it was starting the public safety power shutoff program as a precautionary measure during windy and dry conditions. The utility has faced harsh scrutiny for its role in the devastating wildfires in Northern California in the last two years.
Almanac reporter Angela Swartz and Bay City News Service contributed to this report.
How dare PG&E hold us hostage.
How about they maintain their equipment and clear dry brush and dead trees or work with other agencies to do so?
We don’t pay them to deprive us of our power, which has become our necessity and lifeline in many ways.
Using their argument, basically admitting they’re grossly incompetent, they could just turn off everyone’s power for good, and say they’ve now prevented 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 wildfire started anyway.
Customers need to loudly protest against this ill-conceived “preventive” measure that’s so greatly disruptive to our lives.
…while we wait for the improvements you demand, we’ll not have the power cut off so we can have a much higher risk wildfire/ Good logic.
What’s your fix for minimizing the extreme danger right now, by Thurs when the temps and wind kick in? Nothing?
OK to be angry that it’s come to this, but cutting the power IS the correct thing right now.
Why am I just now seeing the clearing of limbs and shrubbery along Portola Road near Wayside Drive? This area along the horse trail has been overgrown with limbs against power lines for decades! And that’s just one example. Why did PGE stop the trimming and maintenance? Is this why we are in such trouble now?
The limbs are being cut now because do-nothing property owners who had years did nothing and wanted Nanny to come do it.
Ask each proerty owner “Why did you wait so many years to take action”