PG&E has had
a program to selectively
shut off their electricity,
to prevent wildfires,
for more than a year,
but has never used it
on a wide scale.
There was one
power shut-off watch
for 257,000 customers
in parts of seven
Bay Area counties,
but I don't know
how many, if any,
people actually
had a shut off.
Things
changed
this week !
This week
we'll see if the
human costs
of the program
are as small
as claimed.
A temporary
power shut off,
perhaps for one
day, seems like
no big deal.
Unfortunately, PG&E
officials say the outages
could last for days
AFTER the winds stop,
because electric lines
need to be inspected
before they can be
re-energized !
So a convenience
store, gas station
or drugstore,
that carries lots of
perishable foods,
and does not have
a large generator,
might suffer a lot.
Nearly one million
California "accounts"
experienced a planned
electricity shut down.
A single "account"
might be a residence,
or a business,
with multiple people,
so the actual number
of people affected
might 50% to 100%
more than one million.
The affected
PG&E customers
lost power
after midnight,
done so that
a falling tree
-damaged line
won't start a wildfire,
in the expected
extremely dry and
windy weather.
Planned shutoffs
were in every
Bay Area county,
except San Francisco,
and will occur in some
of the far northern
and southern corners
of PG&E’s service area,
reaching 34 counties.
PG&E said communities
will lose power at different
times “depending on
local timing of the
severe wind conditions,”
starting in the north.
The shutoffs are intended
to prevent PG&E equipment
from starting wildfires like
they have in the past.
Downed power lines
in 2017 started
a series of fires
in the North Bay,
and last year,
they caused
the deadly
Camp Fire, in
Butte County.
PG&E has been
warning customers
by email, text messages
and automated phone calls.
PG&E has also made
it possible for people
who aren’t direct
utility customers,
to get alerts about
a particular location,
such as a school, office
or apartment building.
where the landlord
pays the utilities.