SAN FRANCISCO — Update 10/21 11 p.m.
The City of Placerville has been notified by Pacific Gas and Electronic (PG&E) that it will likely begin losing power Wednesday afternoon, according to a post on the city's Facebook page.
The city will be de-energized between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday. About 40,000 customers in El Dorado could be affected, according to the city.
A community resource center will be set up in Pollock Pines and Georgetown. A location for the Placerville community resource center has not yet been determined.
PG&E has also removed San Joaquin County from its list of potentially affected areas, according to a press release from the San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services.
"While San Joaquin County was initially included in the announcement, San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services has been advised that the scope of the potential outages had since narrowed," according to the press release.
Update 10/21 at 5:30 p.m.:
In a press conference Monday, Pacific Gas and Electric spokesperson Mark Quinlan said customers will receive final notice on whether they will lose power eight to 12 hours before the planned shut off.
The utility didn’t specify what time the shutoffs would begin, but Quinlan said they expect power to be completely turned off for portions of the Sierra Foothills and San Francisco North Bay areas by 5 p.m. Wednesday. He said PG&E could turn off power around 2 a.m. Thursday for portions of San Mateo.
"We do not want to de-energize people earlier than they need to be," Quinlan said. "Having said that, we want to make sure we give our crews enough time to facilitate that operation, so we are in a safe state for the winds."
During the press conference, PG&E also added Alpine County to its list of counties that could be affected.
Watch the entire press conference from Oct. 21:
Original Story:
More than 200,000 Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) customers may be in the dark beginning Wednesday night if the utility turns off the power in an attempt to prevent wildfires.
The utility began notifying customers Monday that it may conduct a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) beginning Wednesday evening, according to a press release from PG&E. About 209,000 customers could be affected.
The potential power shutoff would come two weeks after a days-long power outage by PG&E that left a historic number of customers without electricity between Oct. 9 and Oct. 12.
PG&E said the shutoffs would impact portions of 15 counties in the Sierra Foothills and the North Bay, including Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Sierra, Sonoma, Sutter, and Yuba.
"PG&E’s meteorological and operations teams continue to monitor weather models that show potential strong and dry offshore wind gusts that may exceed 55 mph late Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon for portions of the Sierra Foothills," according to a press release from PG&E. "Gusts of 35-45 mph have been forecast for some North Bay counties, with some localized areas expected to experience 55 mph gusts."
PG&E RESOURCES:
The utility said it would implement several improvements since the last power shutoff. A temporary website has been set up for customers to look up addresses, community resource center locations and other PSPS event-related information.
The company's contact center will be better able to manage increased call volume due to the event and is prioritizing emergency, outage and PSPS-related inquiries, PG&E said.
Community resource centers will be open Wednesday across the affected areas to provide restrooms, bottled water, electronic device charging and air-conditioned seating. The centers will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The utility will also have a single point of contact for each county, and a dedicated agency helpline monitored 24/7 for special requests from counties and tribes.
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