Pacific Gas & Electric planned shutdown today

[bcla]

It doesn’t seem like my power was out, but my home internet is out. I still have cellular service including internet.

Sounds like there are outages affecting the transmission of data.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So I'm unfamiliar with planned power outages..so they shut off power to people because of expected winds?

 

[disneychrista]

So I'm unfamiliar with planned power outages..so they shut off power to people because of expected winds?

Many of the PGE powers line are old and in many cases dangerous in high winds. The huge fire that devastated the Paradise area was caused by faulty PGE power lines. They are "de-energizing" the line and shutting the power off as to prevent fires caused by arcing lines. This is the first major planned outage but they have warned of the potential for months. And so far the winds that prompted the shut off have not materialized.

 

[morgan98]

So I'm unfamiliar with planned power outages..so they shut off power to people because of expected winds?

I am not the OP, but it seems like (and I have read several news articles) that the electric utility is proactively shutting off power due to expected high winds in order to minimize the chance of wildfire in parts of California. This is really the first time they are doing this, so this is a new "thing" and not common.

In last year's deadly Camp Fire, PG&E was blamed as it was there electric lines that caused the spark that ignited to whole fire. So they are trying to be proactive so a situation like that doesn't occur again

ETA: Oops I see the question was answered as I was responding.

 

[morgan98]

Many of the PGE powers line are old and in many cases dangerous in high winds. The huge fire that devastated the Paradise area was caused by faulty PGE power lines. They are "de-energizing" the line and shutting the power off as to prevent fires caused by arcing lines. This is the first major planned outage but they have warned of the potential for months. And so far the winds that prompted the shut off have not materialized.

It is interesting about the winds not having materialized. This is the annoying risk with this type of situation, I guess. Sort of like closing school in advance of snow that never falls. Except, i would venture to guess that turning the power off and then on because of a weather forecast is going to be a somewhat controversial thing.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Many of the PGE powers line are old and in many cases dangerous in high winds. The huge fire that devastated the Paradise area was caused by faulty PGE power lines. They are "de-energizing" the line and shutting the power off as to prevent fires caused by arcing lines. This is the first major planned outage but they have warned of the potential for months. And so far the winds that prompted the shut off have not materialized.

I am not the OP, but it seems like (and I have read several news articles) that the electric utility is proactively shutting off power due to expected high winds in order to minimize the chance of wildfire in parts of California. This is really the first time they are doing this, so this is a new "thing" and not common.

In last year's deadly Camp Fire, PG&E was blamed as it was there electric lines that caused the spark that ignited to whole fire. So they are trying to be proactive so a situation like that doesn't occur again

ETA: Oops I see the question was answered as I was responding.

Gotcha. Thanks both of you for answering.

I can understand the fire risk but it does seem crazy to me personally. When my husband and I went to DLR last month while waiting for Fanstasmic! we got to chatting with a woman who was talking about her area having planned rolling blackouts and it was just so foreign to us. Obviously different parts of CA though but still.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It is interesting about the winds not having materialized. This is the annoying risk with this type of situation, I guess. Sort of like closing school in advance of snow that never falls. Except, i would venture to guess that turning the power off and then on because of a weather forecast is going to be a somewhat controversial thing.

Yeah it is similar though I agree with your on the controversial thing.

In the event you close a school district for weather and it doesn't happen the worst is that the kids have to go more days if they've exceeded their snow day allottment. But cutting off power can have a lot worse effects.

The power lines being old I guess would make the decision due to increased fire risk because here 65mph can be just a really bad storm (be it rain,snow or ice). The power may go out because of that but they wouldn't intentionally shut it off in anticipation of it.

 

[bcla]

There are more planned shutdowns possibly this weekend. The last one didn’t directly affect our house except that we lost our cable internet, but with cellular coverage just fi e.

There are also fires in Sonoma County where the source seems to have been another PG&E line. That area was apparently cut off, but the lines still had power and weren’t “deenergized”. Apparent caught on some sort of surveillance video.

 

[RamblingMad]

Is this part of their plan to convert everyone into a prepper? There has to be safer ways to deliver power.

 

[barkley]

There are more planned shutdowns possibly this weekend. The last one didn’t directly affect our house except that we lost our cable internet, but with cellular coverage just fi e.

There are also fires in Sonoma County where the source seems to have been another PG&E line. That area was apparently cut off, but the lines still had power and weren’t “deenergized”. Apparent caught on some sort of surveillance video.

contra costa county is getting areas shut down by pg&e all over the place as of tomorrow with earliest return of power beginning monday in the afternoon "with complete restoration possibly taking several days".

i gotta wonder if the state is going to have to do some kind of special legislation regarding school closures if this is as pg&e claims, a practice that could continue for years. up here we have 'snow days' built into school calendars so closures won't mess with the minimum number of mandatory in session days. is california going to have to build in 'wind days'?

 

[disneychrista]

Just got notification that we might lose power.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Is this part of their plan to convert everyone into a prepper? There has to be safer ways to deliver power.

There are. PG and E just refuse to implement them or modernize in any way. They knew about it and did nothing. There are articles both in the New York Times and Wall St. Journal about it (note both are behind paywalls)

 

[bcla]

Our power is out now. We have flashlights and can cook with gas at least. I should probably conserve my portable device batteries.

 

[wishesuponastar]

Will the power lines ever be put underground to help the situation out there?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Will the power lines ever be put underground to help the situation out there?

I asked my husband about that possibility. He said they can't really put the high voltage lines underground. Especially up and over the hills and mountains, in heavily wooded areas. It would be pretty cost prohibitive, also. And that would show up in massively increased bills for everyone.

 

[tvguy]

I asked my husband about that possibility. He said they can't really put the high voltage lines underground. Especially up and over the hills and mountains, in heavily wooded areas. It would be pretty cost prohibitive, also. And that would show up in massively increased bills for everyone.

Yup, pretty much impossible to put them underground in the mountain areas

 

[barkley]

Will the power lines ever be put underground to help the situation out there?

I asked my husband about that possibility. He said they can't really put the high voltage lines underground. Especially up and over the hills and mountains, in heavily wooded areas. It would be pretty cost prohibitive, also. And that would show up in massively increased bills for everyone.

dh and i were talking about this today. there's no way in some of the areas we lived in northern california it would be possible. the only reason there were and still are areas of undeveloped land is b/c it's solid rock beneath shallow dirt or water tables that can't be messed with. we have the same land issues where we live now but our utility company stepped up in 2015 after the massive windstorm we had and started reinspecting and replacing equipment in an upped safety plan. no massive increased bills to the consumers but that's b/c it's a non profit cooperative. pg&e has and will continue to put their investors before the consumers even when it's clearly a matter of life and death.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

We aren't in the effected area (thankfully) but honestly, this is not a real solution. People have lost power for an extended period of time twice this month. It's more than an inconvenience and costs people a lot of money every single time it happens. They can't just shut off power each time the winds come up. They need to actually solve the problem by upgrading their equipment and making it safer for use, they don't seem to want to do that.

 

[kdonnel]

We aren't in the effected area (thankfully) but honestly, this is not a real solution. People have lost power for an extended period of time twice this month. It's more than an inconvenience and costs people a lot of money every single time it happens. They can't just shut off power each time the winds come up. They need to actually solve the problem by upgrading their equipment and making it safer for use, they don't seem to want to do that.

It is always about money.

Deferred maintenance is coming back to haunt them and their subscribers.

An inspection found lots of issues.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/busines...line-inspections-revealed-10-000-14098021.php
The estimated cost to repair/replace everything wrong is just north of 1 billion dollars.

That will be quite the rate hike.

 

[bcla]

It is always about money.

Deferred maintenance is coming back to haunt them and their subscribers.

An inspection found lots of issues.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/busines...line-inspections-revealed-10-000-14098021.php
The estimated cost to repair/replace everything wrong is just north of 1 billion dollars.

That will be quite the rate hike.

They've had money specifically collected from customers for preventative maintenance and diverted it for executive bonuses and to boost profits. That was cited in the investigation of the San Bruno gas pipeline explosion. Our bills have specific surcharges to go to specific safety/maintenance accounts.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/PG-E-diverted-safety-money-for-profit-bonuses-2500175.php