PG&E restores power for nearly all customers following historic winter storm
Company says it’s preparing for more snow and rain next week
Company says it’s preparing for more snow and rain next week–PG&E crews have restored nearly all customers who lost electricity following a powerful “atmospheric river” weather system that battered the company’s service area with days of record-breaking rain, snow.
As of 2 p.m. Sunday, about 98-percent of the nearly 944,000 customers who lost power during the storm had their power restored. The remainder of customers are primarily located in hard-hit areas where roads remain closed due to heavy snowfall, debris flows, or other damage. PG&E says they will continue to work to gain access to these customers and restore power as safely and as quickly as possible.
Even as the PG&E crews work to overcome such obstacles and reconnect service safely and as quickly as possible, meteorologists are monitoring a new winter system that could bring more wet and stormy weather to Northern and Central California starting Monday.
“We want to thank our customers and our communities that we are privileged to serve for their support and their patience in the aftermath of this severe storm,” said Sumeet Singh, PG&E’s interim president. “Since this historic storm started, more than 5,000 of PG&E’s field team members, contract partners and mutual assistance support from other utilities have worked tirelessly to inspect our system, repair significant damage and restore power to our customers in the hardest hit areas. We recognize the frustration and inconvenience caused by prolonged outages and are sincerely grateful for the understanding of all those who have been impacted.”
From midnight on Tuesday, Jan. 26, through Saturday morning, more than 944,000 PG&E customers lost power due to heavy wind, rain, and snow. PG&E found more than 1,500 instances of damaged infrastructure where equipment needs to be replaced or repaired, including 365 broken poles and 1,417 spans of wire.
At the peak of the restoration effort, more than 450 crews were working to assess and repair damage and restore power as safely and as quickly as possible for customers.
Based on 30 years of weather data, PG&E meteorologists describe this week’s storm as the strongest since 2011 and say that it caused the highest two-day and three-day outage totals since 2010.
Winter weather ahead
PG&E’s meteorology team forecasts a relatively cold and strong weather system will move through the company’s service area late Monday into Tuesday. Customers who may be impacted are encouraged to review storm safety tips and take the necessary precautions to stay safe during winter weather.
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