Bay Area braces for another potential round of PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoffs

ByAmy Hollyfield and Luz Pena KGO logo
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
North Bay businesses brace for another potential round of PG&E outages
Inside Backyard Restaurant, we spoke to Daniel Kedan and his wife Mariana Gardenhire. During the last power shut off, they were closed for five days and lost close to $50,000.

At least 300,000 PG&E customers in Northern California could be impacted by another round of PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoffs.

Starting Wednesday, if there are no changes in the forecast, PG&E will de-energize power to 2,978 customers in Santa Clara County, 70 in San Mateo County, 1,833 in Santa Cruz County, 12,200 in Alameda County, 23,230 in Contra Costa County, 23,440 in Marin County, 11,180 in Napa County, 39,940 in Sonoma County and 1,970 in Solano County.

An all-clear and line inspections could begin to parts of these counties as early as 8 a.m. Thursday.

LIST: Areas affected by PG&E power outage in California

Being in the dark last month made an impression, residents are even more prepared this time around.

"I've got a generator now and we can power the house up," said Keith Green who lost power for four days last month.

He is not alone. Just about everyone you talk to in Napa can keep their refrigerators cold and their phones charged.

RELATED: PG&E Power Outages: How to prepare for shut off

"We got a generator, so we're good," said Napa Resident Dani Neuman.

"It's all about generators nowadays, if you're going to have your power turned off," said Anthony Rodriguez of Napa.

People are prepared, but also frustrated that this could be happening again and so late in the season.

RELATED: I-TEAM: History of PG&E's power problems

"I just think it is absolutely ridiculous. Can you imagine if the wind blows on Thanksgiving day? People will be outraged," said Napa resident CJ, who did not give his last name.

"It's rough and some people don't have the resources for a generator and have meds they need to be taking. It's rough for everybody- try to take care of your neighbors if you can," said Neuman.

Inside Backyard Restaurant, we spoke to Daniel Kedan and his wife Mariana Gardenhire. During the last power shut off, they were closed for five days and lost close to $50,000.

Luz Pena: "How would another power shutoff this time around affect your business?"

Mariana Gardenhire: "I don't even want to think about it. It makes me want to cry because it's so detrimental to us and it's very emotional"

According to PG&E, more than 260,000 customers in Northern California could be impacted by another round of power shutoffs. Kedan and Gardenhire are planning to in case they get a notification from PG&E.

"This time we are planning accordingly and we are really not going to order so as you see... we normally we would bring a lot of our product to start prepping for next week and, this week, we have very little in there," said Kedan.

Sonoma County Supervisors Lynda Hopkins says they understand the reason behind the potential PSPS but want PG&E to do better.

"We are so tired of these. It's been such a hard hit to our local economy here in Sonoma County. We've seen about a half a dozen businesses in downtown Santa Rosa close. More local businesses are trying to take out loans," supervisor Hopkins added "I would love to see a regional power entity. I'm actually a board member of Sonoma Clean Power and we are actively investigating the possibility of municipalization of PG&E."

For the latest stories about PG&E's Public Safety Power Shutoff go here.