Friday, 16 October 2009 00:51

Remote Customers Stay in the Dark while PG&E Crews Blanket Northern California

slide1.pngJackson – Customers of Pacific Gas & Electric were still awaiting repairs in at least 137 cities across Northern California early Thursday, with remote customers told to expect a wait, possibly a few days. Thursday morning, PG&E listed 3 outages in Amador. That included 2 outages in Jackson, each affecting between 1 and 50 customers, and 1 outage in Ione, off Highway 104, affecting between 1 and 50 customers. The reasons were not listed, but falling trees created multiple emergency calls during the storm Tuesday, for both blocked roads and crossed and broken power lines. PG&E’s website said that people who are without power for more than 48 hours can qualify for reimbursement payments. Sacramento reported 49 outages affecting less than 50 customers. In Stockton, there were 40 outages Thursday, with 16 of those each affecting between 1 and 50 customers each, located in 10 different sections of town, many caused by fallen wires. One Stockton neighborhood had 24 outages, each affecting between 50 and 500 customers. PG&E in a release Wednesday said the first major storm of the season left nearly 3 quarters of a million customers without. The company said crews “made significant progress in making repairs to the utility’s electrical system” and as of noon Wednesday had “restored power to 91% of the more than 700,000 customers impacted by power outages by the storm.” The utility said it “mobilized all available crews to restore power to the remaining 63,000 customers as quickly as safety allows.” The release said that “while PG&E expects to have power restored to the vast majority of those customers (Wednesday and Thursday), some customers in the hardest hit areas of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, Sierra Nevada foothills, and central coast should prepare to be without electricity for a few days.” PG&E’s Mark Johnson, vice president of electric operations and engineering said: “PG&E crews will remain mobilized as long as necessary to restore power to all customers.” He said: “Restoring power safely and quickly is our number one priority. We are working hard with all available resources, including contract crews, to limit the number of customers who experience extended outages.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.