Today’s high temperatures have tripped a stage-three power emergency, overloading the system and triggering rolling blackouts that will (or did?) last between 1-4 hours. PG&E said it will not give advance alerts of any impending shutdown.
The last alert, from the Sonoma Sheriff’s Office, was just after 8 p.m. It said 42,455 Sonoma County residents were without power at this time, and the number is expected to climb.
PG&E said it was directed today by the California Independent System Operator to shut off power to about 200,000 to 250,000 customers at a time, in rotating power outages, during the statewide heatwave. High temps are forecast through Wednesday.
The power will be turned off in rotating blocks until about 11 p.m. Power could be out for about one hour for each block. PG&E said these outages are not part of its Public Safety Power Shutoffs program, and no advance warning will be given before power is cut.
Despite the shutdowns, these rotating outages “are not Public Safety Power Shutoffs, which are conducted during specific high fire threat conditions.”
Furthermore, PG&E said it is unable to notify customers in advance of the power shutoffs, which could occur anywhere.
And: PG&E offers less than transparent data, “if needed” at
https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/outages/current-outages/report-view-an-electric-outage/find-or-report-electric-outages.page
Pretty hot!
PGE you already knew it would be BLISTERING heat!!! WTH!! 1-4 hours my ***
it’s already been 4 hours. L.A. hasn’t shut down power and there is way more power usage there!!! So Sonoma county PGE, whats your excuse??