Hot on the heels of the last PG&E power shutoff, affecting thousands in the northern part of California, is another power shutoff. PG&E will shut the power of roughly 179,000 customers across California in an effort to reduce the risk of its equipment sparking fires in current windy conditions. Multiple counties across Northern California will experience the effects of the shutoff.

17 Counties Affected by Shutoff:

• Alpine
• Amador
• Butte
• Calaveras
• El Dorado
• Kern
• Lake
• Mendocino
• Napa
• Nevada
• Placer
• Plumas
• San Mateo
• Sierra
• Sonoma
• Tehama
• Yuba

The shutoffs started today in the Sierra foothills, moved to the North Bay area by the afternoon, and will affect the counties of San Mateo and Kern on Thursday.

PG&E meteorologists are monitoring weather conditions from Wednesday to Friday, October 25.

“PG&E will safely restore power in stages as quickly as possible, with the goal of restoring the vast majority of customers within 48 hours after the weather has passed,” stated the company.

Criticism of Recent Power Shutoff

PG&E received harsh criticism from officials for the last shutoff because of its duration and impact. Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to PG&E CEO Bill Johnson addressing the multiple issues that surfaced because of the shutoff.  Though PG&E stood by their decision to cut off power because of safety concerns, Johnson acknowledged PG&E’s shortcomings and vowed to maintain the company website and staff the call center to handle traffic and questions.

Gov. Newsom also urged PG&E to issue automatic rebates or a credit of $100 per residential customer and $250 per small business to compensate hardship, but PG&E made no such commitment, stating:

“We are considering the Governor’s request, but right now during this current fire season, we are focused on keeping our customers and communities safe and reducing wildfire risk. The State of California’s current electric tariffs do not call for reimbursement for weather- or safety-related outages. A PSPS is a weather-driven event. We remain open to future policy discussion with lawmakers and regulators on this matter, and many other wildfire-safety related policy issues.”

Resource Centers Available

Resource centers are available across the 17 affected counties. The 25 centers are expected to open from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Listed below are the centers available for affected customers.