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PG&E cuts off power to 24,000 customers

September 24, 2019

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PG&E cut off power to about 24,000 customers in Northern California on Monday as part of a new strategy to prevent wildfires.

As of 8 p.m., power shutoffs were in effect in Butte, Nevada and Yuba counties. Butte County was ravaged by the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive blaze in state history, a fire PG&E was found to have caused.

Customers affected may have power restored for a brief time Tuesday before a second shutoff Tuesday night, PG&E stated in a tweet.

The utility shut off the power amid dry and windy conditions. Prior to the shut off, a red flag warning was issued for high fire danger in numerous counties in Northern California.

PG&E is reminding customers to use any window of re-energization to charge electronic devices.

Meanwhile in Southern California, SCE is considering shutting off power to approximately 89,500 customers due to high fire danger.

The Southern California Edison shutoffs would primarily affect customers in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Kern counties. Likewise, about 240 customers in Santa Barbara County could be subject to potential shutoffs. [NBC Southern California]


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A lot of people tragically died in a congested, fire-prone town like Paradise. Didn’t a recent CalFire assessment say Cambria could require two and a half hours to evacuate, PROVIDED highway One was not compromised?


And, don’t the people of California, through their legislature and PUC, command the construction of overhead powerlines (via things like PUC General Order No. 95 at over 500 pages) which is much cheaper distribution than underground? Ditto for authorizing bare/uncovered conductors?


Since any mechanical system will occasionally fail despite severe, meticulous maintenance and study (the shuttle wound up in small bits roughly every fifty times it was flown) then scapegoating PG&E or SCE for a source of ignition in a tinder-dry, POORLY-EGRESSED mankind/forest interface just might be scapegoating for a foreseeable outcome which is of popular public creation?


No I don’t work for PG&E.


4

You reaps what you sow.


6

This is the Mexican solution for power shortage. They routinely rotate power and water so everyone can gets some. Take a vacation in the large City of La Paz, Baja California Sur and you will understand. As we promote electric cars while campaigning to close plants, these rotational power outages will forget the excuse of fire danger. There is no forest in La Paz.


15

Time to buy a Generac.


9

No…its time to drag them into small claims court for the cost of groceries and havoc caused by the shut down….will they turn it on over night when the winds stop?…or just for their own convenience leave it off?….this is the fault of the California legislature and Governor…I feel like California has joined the 3rd world….


15

A utility opens a local storm room through the entire shutoff event. Troublemen patrol what 3-phase mainline that they can safely patrol while power is off. There is also reliance on customers to report tree/limb/wire down while lines are dead. When wind drops below procedure threshold and the local incident commander knows the mainline has had one last patrol, the operators energize mainline. Any missed wire/limb down on single phase taps will burn the tap line fuse(s) and they see whose without power via smart meter data. They may ping the meter just to verify. Basically, they don’t want any surprises when they reenergize the mainline that have circuit ties and they especially want no delays to get tree crews and line crews that they should have already called-out.


9

So they say…and then I assume its the smart meters that make this all possible?…its not right to shut peoples power off without compensating them for any cost attributed to the shut down….its just not right nor is it fair…


-2

Compensated for what? Fair? What did people think was going to take place after the law suits. Its not a perfect world, winds blow, trees fall, lines come down,shit happens. This i just the beginning. Did people think somehow they could snap their fingers and every element of the power system would somehow magically become indestructible? Ca has banned forest management or maybe we better say no management has been their management, and now its biting folks in the ass isn’t it?.Morons are running the state and this is the chickens coming home to roost. You all should sue also PG&E for a shiny new emergency gen set at you homes. Surely a couple hundred thousand new diesel generator engines should do the trick. Then you all can sue the manufacturers for the excess carbon footprint when they run.


2

If there is no reasonable notice of interruption, you can put a claim in for spoiled food or other losses. If given a few hours notice, I’m not sure they will pay that claim, but you can try.

The smart meter pinging gives better outage detail than looking at the hardcopy feeder cal to see how many customers are affected beyond an open recloser, breaker or fuse.

To me it’s not right to turn off power to rural areas that need electricity to power well and booster pumps to fight fire or sewer plants that can spill over.


1

Utilities such as water and sewer plants, also hospitals etc,etc all utilize back up generators in the event of power outages. I think folks need to keep in mind they pay for services that cost the provider plenty to build and maintain. Do they make profits? sure. Do those who think their owed something have more money that just enough to survive, I bet they do. Should those “profits” be taken away under “social injustice”, no.

Beyond that nobody owes us anything. Prepare for yourself, your families and understand its not a perfect world.


1