LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it is continuing to anticipate the need to go forward with a public safety power shutoff on Tuesday evening, reporting that the number of customers has increased by several thousand accounts and two more counties.
An offshore dry windstorm that’s expected to start on Tuesday evening is driving the plans for the public safety power shutoff, or PSPS, the company said.
PG&E said its meteorologists are tracking a weather system that could bring sustained winds of up to 40 miles per hour, gusting higher in foothills and mountains.
The National Weather Service issued fire weather watches in the potential shutoff areas Tuesday through Wednesday based on forecasts for dry, northerly winds and low relative humidity.
Lake County is among the areas included in the fire weather watch, in effect from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 8 p.m. Wednesday.
The Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center’s North Operations Predictive Services also issued a high-risk fire warning Tuesday through Wednesday due to “an unusually gusty early-season” windstorm.
PG&E first began notifying customers of the potential PSPS on Sunday night, at which time it was expecting 16 counties — including portions of Lake — and 39,000 customers in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the North Coast, the North Valley and the North Bay mountains would be impacted.
On Monday evening, the number of customers in the potential outage area was up to 48,000, with Colusa and Nevada now joining a coverage area that includes Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Napa, Plumas, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba counties.
PG&E said most of the affected customers — approximately 31,000 — are in Butte and Shasta counties.
PG&E said the outage, if it goes forward, would begin on Tuesday evening and continue through Wednesday afternoon.
In Lake County, the number of customers that would be affected has dropped from more than 2,700 to approximately 2,083 customers, including 136 Medical Baseline customers, PG&E reported.
PG&E mapping showed that the projected outage in Lake County included Cobb, areas east and north of Clearlake Oaks, areas east of Lower Lake and Middletown. Portions of Hidden Valley Lake have been added to the outage area.
The estimated time of the shutoff for Lake County is between 9 and 10 p.m. Tuesday, with estimated restoration around noon on Wednesday, PG&E reported.
In addition to Lake County, impacted counties and the estimated numbers of customers are as follows:
Butte County: 11,114 customers, 1,027 Medical Baseline customers.
Colusa County: 509 customers, 33 Medical Baseline customers.
Glenn County: 207 customers, 10 Medical Baseline customers.
Humboldt County: 681 customers, 16 Medical Baseline customers.
Lassen County: 65 customers, 7 Medical Baseline customers.
Mendocino County: 669 customers, 30 Medical Baseline customers.
Napa County: 2,041 customers, 99 Medical Baseline customers.
Nevada County: 133 customers, 3 Medical Baseline customers.
Plumas County: 660 customers, 24 Medical Baseline customers.
Shasta County: 19,999 customers, 1,713 Medical Baseline customers.
Sierra County: 1,036 customers, 30 Medical Baseline customers.
Solano County: 44 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers.
Sonoma County: 240 customers, 9 Medical Baseline customers.
Tehama County: 7,473 customers, 671 Medical Baseline customers.
Trinity County: 428 customers, 21 Medical Baseline customers.
Yolo County: 11 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers.
Yuba County: 487 customers, 47 Medical Baseline customers.
PG&E customers can look up their addresses to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
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 updates plans for potential power shutoff; number of customers to be impacted grows
- Elizabeth Larson
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