LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric reported that all Lake County customers impacted by the latest public safety power shutoff which began Wednesday morning have had their power restored.
The company said Thursday afternoon that approximately 50,000 customer accounts in 11 counties were impacted by the most recent shutoff, which was initiated Wednesday due to dry, windy weather and elevated fire risk across portions of its service area.
In Lake County, PG&E said approximately 12,854 customer accounts – in Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Cobb, Hidden Valley Lake, Kelseyville, an area west of the city of Lakeport, Loch Lomond, Lower Lake and Middletown – had been impacted,
Lake and the other counties included in the shutoff also were under a red flag warning, issued by the National Weather Service. That warning expired on Thursday morning.
In addition to Lake, counties impacted in this week’s shutoff are Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Mendocino, Napa, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma and Tehama, PG&E said.
As of Thursday afternoon, PG&E said that power had been restored to 99 percent of all impacted customers. At that point, there were still some customers in Napa, Shasta and
Solano counties where the reenergization process was still under way.
PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras told Lake County News that the company began working to restore service to as many customers as possible Wednesday evening and then resumed inspections and restoration at first light Thursday morning.
On Wednesday night, Lake County News began receiving reports from a number of local residents, particularly in the Clearlake area, who said their power had come back on.
“We were able to restore about 6,000 customers in Lake County last night,” Contreras said.
Contreras said the all clear for all impacted areas was given at 2 a.m.
Once that all clear was given, PG&E said it began the patrol and restoration process.
Contreras said PG&E deployed almost 5,500 personnel and 45 helicopters available to support power restoration, completed in Lake County by Thursday afternoon.
PG&E reported that wind gusts in excess of 70 miles per hour were recorded Wednesday morning and into Thursday in the outage area.
Based on the inspections so far, PG&E said it has confirmed four instances of weather-related damage and hazards to its system in the outage area, including downed lines and vegetation on power lines, which it said could have led to wildland fires.
The company said it has either completed or is working to complete repairs to that damaged equipment.
PG&E said it will submit a report detailing the damages to the California Public Utilities Commission within 10 days of the completion of the public safety power shutoff.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
PG&E: All Lake County customers impacted by shutoff have had power restored
- Elizabeth Larson
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