Amador County – Local residents who suffered from storm-related power outages during recent winter storms may be eligible for compensation from PG&E. The payments are part of PG&E’s Saftey Net program. Thousands of PG&E customers in the foothills area were left without power for extended periods of up to 72 hours last week while repairman scrambled to bring them back on line. According to PG&E’s website, residential customers without power due for at least 48 hours due to severe storm conditions may qualify for…the automatic payment of $25-$100, which is paid about 60 days following the storm outage. “While our crews and emergency response teams at PG&E do everything they can to keep the lights on, there are rare occasions when Mother Nature impacts our ability to keep power flowing to every one of our customers,” says PG&E. The site says “over 18,000 men and women are focused on providing our customers with responsive service at fair prices.” To be eligible for the payment, one must be a residential customer or enrolled in programs such as CARE and medical baseline, and the outage must have occurred during a major weather-related event that caused significant damage to PG&E's electric distribution system. PG&E said the payments will not be issued to customers in areas where access to PG&E's electric facilities was blocked by mudslides, road closures or other access issues. The “Storm Inconvenience Payments” are in $25 increments depending on how long your power outage lasted. The maximum payment is $100. Customers will multiple residential services are eligible for payments at each location. For more information, vist PG&E’s website or call the outtage hotline at 1-888-PGE-4PGE or 1-888-743-4743 to speak with a representative. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.