PG&E Planned Power Outages In Some Parts Of State
It is the time of the year when PG&E is more likely to do planned power outages due to high winds and fire concerns.
The PSPS outages can last for multiple days, and have been less prevalent in recent years after being a common occurrence when they were first implemented in 2019.
PG&E says 8,500 customers to the north, outside of the Mother Lode, should brace for a “likely outage” today. It is around Lake, Napa, Colusa, Glenn, and Yolo counties.
The reason given by PG&E is projected high winds combined with dry conditions.
The company reports that additional switches on the circuits allow it to better pinpoint where to cut power, and there have also been advances in the company’s weather modeling (which could lead to fewer and less widespread incidents).
More common over the past year in the Mother Lode have been the Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) outages that cut electricity when PG&E’s infrastructure senses that something could be threatening it, like a falling tree branch. This has led to numerous outages recently, with communities like Groveland and Columbia being among the hardest hit.
