SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced this afternoon that it forecasts to restore power by midnight Monday, October 15, to approximately 70 percent of customers impacted in areas where it had proactively turned power off for safety on Sunday evening.

Early Monday morning, weather conditions improved to allow PG&E crews to begin patrols of lines to identify damage that occurred overnight. Crews are thoroughly inspecting powerlines and equipment by helicopter, in vehicles and on foot.

As crews assess damage from the weather event, PG&E will continue to proactively communicate with customers, providing them more detailed information about expected time of restoration.

To help reduce the risk of wildfire and keep our customers, their families and their homes and businesses safe, the company initiated a Public Safety Power Shutoff in the following extreme fire-risk areas:

• North Bay (Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties)
• Sierra Foothills (Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado and Placer counties)

Approximately 60,000 PG&E customers were impacted by the power shut off. PG&E had notified approximately 97,000 customers of the possibility that power would be turned off, but conditions did not require all customers to be impacted.

Overnight on Sunday, portions of the North Bay region experienced wind speeds over 60 mph and wind gusts of up to 70 mph. In the Sierra, wind speeds were lower at between 20-35 mph, but with gusts of up to 55 mph. At the Kirkwood area high in the Sierra, wind speeds were recorded at 96 mph with gusts at 121 mph.

“The safety of our customers and the communities we serve is PG&E’s top priority. We know how much our customers rely on electric service and only considered temporarily turning off power in the interest of safety, and as a last resort during extreme weather conditions.�We appreciate our customers’ patience as restoration progresses,” said Pat Hogan, PG&E’s senior vice president of Electric Operations.

PG&E’s 24/7 Wildfire Safety Operations Center and our in-house meteorologists had been monitoring the weather for several days leading up the decision to turn off power for safety. The company factors in whether the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning, humidity levels, projected sustained winds, temperature, condition of fuel on the ground and on-the-ground observations.

Extreme weather threats can change quickly. Out of an abundance of caution, PG&E began providing notice to customers in advance of this safety event through automated phone calls, texts, social media and emails on Saturday, Oct. 13.

As part of these preparedness efforts, PG&E has asked customers to:

• Learn whether their home or business is in or near a high fire-threat area on the CPUC High Fire-Threat District map. Customers also can visit pge.com/wildfiresafety to enter their address and find out if their home or business is served by an electric line that may be turned off for safety during high wildfire threats.
• Update their contact information at pge.com/mywildfirealerts or by calling 1-866-743-6589 during normal business hours. PG&E will use this information to alert customers in advance of turning off their electric service for safety, when and where possible.
• Prepare for and practice an emergency plan to keep themselves, their families and/or employees emergency-ready and safe during an outage. Keep in mind family members who are elderly, younger children and pets. Information and tips including a safety plan checklist are available at pge.com/wildfiresafety

Public Safety Power Shutoff is part of PG&E’s comprehensive Community Wildfire Safety Program to reduce wildfire risks and strengthen our communities for the future.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.

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PG&E

Media Relations, 415-973-5930

Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company

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