California regulators Thursday approved PG&E Corp.’s plan to impose blackouts this summer across large swaths of its territory to prevent major wildfires — and told customers don’t count on reliable electric service as the fire season gets underway.
The California Public Utilities Commission approved PG&E’s “wildfire mitigation plan,” in which blackouts could conceivably hit every one of PG&E’s 5.4 million electric customer households and business customers during times of gusting winds, low humidity and other risky conditions.
Preventing a disaster
The plan also calls for PG&E to spend roughly $1.8 billion on increased tree-trimming efforts, fire-resistant power poles and other programs aimed at avoiding a repeat of a major disaster like 2018’s Camp Fire, the worst wildfire in state history, in which 85 people died.
The PUC approved similar plans submitted by Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and a number of smaller utilities that are regulated by the commission.
PUC President Michael Picker said the utilities have to “really focus and isolate areas of risk, and only cut off power in those specific areas,” the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported.
Be ready for power outages
With fire threats increasing, he said Californians should be ready for power outages — sometimes without notice if a fire knocks out communications.
“Given those changes that we’re seeing in weather and changes that we’re seeing in fire fuels, nobody who lives in wildfire hazard zones should count on a warning or should count on having reliable electricity,” Picker said, the Bee reported. “This is a new set of conditions that puts large parts of the state at great risk, because the reliability cannot be guaranteed.”
The planned power shutoffs will likely prove the most controversial element of the wildfire plans.
Tenfold increase
Last year, only 570,000 of PG&E’s households and business customers were subject to potential blackouts. This year the universe of potential blackout customers has grown tenfold, to include the utility’s entire service territory.
PG&E filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 29, after saying it expects to face $30 billion in liability claims from November’s Camp Fire and the 2017 wine-country fire.
“The approval of our 2019 Wildfire Safety Plan marks the progression of enhanced and additional safety precautions PG&E has implemented to address the growing threat of extreme weather and wildfires across its service area,” PG&E said, in a statement.
Although PG&E’s overall plan for reducing fire risk was approved, the commission still hasn’t signed off on the $1.8 billion the utility is spending on tree removal, increased inspections and other programs. Picker said PG&E will have to justify those expenses during future proceedings in order to pass the costs along to ratepayers.
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