California Officials Defend Power Shutdowns Amid Wildfire Conditions

Oct. 9--Hundreds of thousands of utility customers in Northern and Central California are experiencing power shutoffs as Pacific Gas & Electric -- the investor-owned utility going through bankruptcy -- has de-energized lines in a move to avoid utility equipment from sparking potentially devastating wildfires in its service territory.

It's a new practice for PG&E but not for one of its utility counterparts -- San Diego Gas & Electric.

Since October 2013, SDG&E has cut off power as a preventive measure in areas deemed at risk for fire.

On Tuesday night, SDG&E notified customers that lines in areas including Fallbrook, Julian, Valley Center and Rancho Santa Fe may be shut down as the region braces for the first serious bout of Santa Ana winds this fire season.

But the scale of the potential impact is profound. While SDG&E has estimated about 30,000 of its customers may be affected by the time the National Weather Service's red flag warning is scheduled to expire at 6 p.m. Friday, the PG&E shutoffs that began early Wednesday morning were expected to hit about 800,000 customers, the largest preventive outage in state history.

The strategy of de-energizing lines has long been a subject of debate. Some say it's irresponsible for the power companies to not shut down lines at times of high fire danger while others -- especially those in inland and rural areas most often affected -- say utilities are too quick to cut off power and the shutoffs can appear random.

Ed Yates, an employee at Perkin's Market in Descanso, said the wind remained light Wednesday afternoon.

The store's owner bought a small gas-powered generator, which is expected to provide enough energy to keep the lights on during an outage so the store can remain open until its usual closing time at 9 p.m., Yates said. The market plans to use dry ice again to keep refrigerated food cold.

Yates is hoping electricity stays on. "I don't think it is good policy," he said. "There are a lot of people up here who have health issues, who have to be on respirators and such. Without the power, what are they supposed to do? Plus it in an inconvenience to all of us."

De-energizing lines "is a measure of last resort," said Zoraya Griffin, SDG&E senior communications manager. "The whole reason that we're doing this is to help maintain the safety of communities against wildfire. That is our No. 1 priority."

PG&E was criticized for not cutting off power before last November's Camp Fire in Butte County that killed 85 people, scorched 153,336 acres and forced evacuations of 52,000 people. Cal Fire in May determined that "after a very meticulous and thorough investigation," the fire was caused by electrical transmission lines owned and operated by PG&E.

The utility, also deemed responsible for a natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people in 2010, expanded its use of shutting off power this year but this week's decision was by far the largest.

"I think it's the only strategy (PG&E has) for now," said Michael Wara, senior research scholar at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment and director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program. "The better strategy is the one that San Diego Gs & Electric has adopted over the last 12 years."

Since the 2007 Witch, Guejito and Rice wildfires destroyed more than 1,300 homes, killed two people, injured 40 firefighters and forced more than 10,000 to seek shelter at Qualcomm Stadium, SDG&E has spent about $1.5 billion in ratepayer dollars on programs to fight and prevent wildfires.

The efforts include a network of 190 weather stations that provide readings of wind speed, humidity and temperature in fire-prone areas every 10 minutes. The company has added 17 high-definition cameras perched on mountain tops to improve fire detection and created a weather center that employs five full-time meteorologists and fire scientists.

SDG&E also added a second helicopter this year to douse fires with water as quickly as possible.

"PG&E hasn't had the time to do that," Wara said. "They really started this effort after the Camp Fire and they are just at the beginning of what will take about a decade to accomplish."

Wara was speaking from first-hand experience. A resident of Mill Valley in the Bay Area, PG&E cut off the electricity to Wara's home at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday and he was still without power well into the afternoon.

"Because of the size of the outage in Northern California, the duration is going to be longer than people in San Diego will experience," Wara said. "SDG&E has the manpower to inspect the lines after they de-energize quickly and turn them back on quickly. But when you cut off power to 800,000 people, it's going to take several days for PG&E to turn the power back on. To get the grid back up after that kind of outage is time-consuming in a way that San Diego County doesn't generally experience."

PG&E's service territory spans 70,000 square miles and 5.4 million electric customer accounts; SDG&E's covers 4,100 square miles and 1.4 million residential and business customers.

Southern California Edison, the third of the big three investor-owned utilities in the state, has also warned of a potential power shutoff this week. Edison officials notified nearly 50,000 customers Wednesday they may lose electricity due to high fire risk.

The shutoffs come as utilities come under more scrutiny, financial pressure and, in the case of PG&E, downright recklessness.

PG&E equipment has been traced to 19 major wildfires in 2017 and 2018 that killed more than 100 people. In addition to its bankruptcy proceedings, the company has been taken to task by a federal judge overseeing its probation related to the San Bruno explosion.

The California Legislature passed a controversial bill in July establishing a $21 billion fund power companies can access for damages related to utility-caused wildfires after they receive a safety certification from the state. The legislation was supported by Wall Street firms concerned about the long-term prospects of investor-owned utilities but opposed by others who considered it a giveaway to utilities. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law after it sped through the Legislature as an "urgency statute."

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from SDG&E of a California Supreme Court case that rejected the utility's request to pass $379 million in costs related to 2007's wildfires onto ratepayers.

"The Public Safety Power Shutoff protocols put into effect this week are part of our plan that we've had in place for nearly a decade and in no way are related to the Supreme Court ruling this week," said Brian D'Agostino, director fire science and climate adaptation at SDG&E.

The last time SDG&E instituted a power shutoff was November 2018. D'Agostino said a fire did not break out.

SDG&E also de-energized lines during the December 2017 Lilac Fire that destroyed 157 structures and injured three firefighters and four civilians.

San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, a longtime critic of SDG&E, said the shutoffs come at considerable hardship to those dependent on medical devices powered by electricity and rural residents needing power to pump well water.

Taking to social media, Jacob tweeted, "As always, SDG&E is putting itself first and looking to cover its liability rear end. Instead of taking the easy way out and pulling the plug on vulnerable communities, SDG&E should redouble its efforts to fully harden power lines and other infrastructure."

The utility responded via Twitter: "Dianne, we've been hardening our system for the past 10 years and continue to make improvements every day. We've converted 18,000 wood poles to steel, wind-resistant poles, undergrounded 10,000 miles of power lines and sectionalized our system so we impact as few customers as possible."

Still, SDG&E has years of work ahead to fully complete its wildfire hardening efforts. Fifty-four percent of its miles of overhead lines traverse high fire threat areas. According to its February Wildfire Mitigation Plan, the multi-year upgrades won't be completely finished throughout its territory until 2025.

U-T staff writer Gary Robbins contributed to this report.

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