No more outages in Bay Area Sunday night, but 1 San Jose neighborhood goes 3 days without power

ByLauren Martinez KGO logo
Monday, August 17, 2020
SJ neighborhood goes 3 days without power amid heat wave
Bay Area residents were warned, they could lose power Sunday evening in one of PG&E's rolling blackouts, but one San Jose neighborhood has been without power since Friday afternoon after residents were told a transformer blew.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Bay Area residents were warned, they could lose power Sunday evening in one of PG&E's rolling blackouts, but one San Jose neighborhood has been without power since Friday afternoon after residents were told a transformer blew.

RELATED: PG&E rolling power outages possible through Wednesday after California ISO issues Flex Alert to conserve energy, officials say

Rebecca McCartney lives near the Century-Pebbletree area where 20 homes have been without power since Friday afternoon. Her husband has stage four cancer, so they checked into a Residence Inn hotel because they felt like they had no other option.

"PG&E has told us we are low priority due to the rolling blackouts, and they have no idea when they'll be able to restore power," McCartney said.

McCartney said PG&E suggested they go to a shelter or hosptial. Due to COVID-19, those were not options so she later got ahold of a representative that told her she would be reimbursed.

RELATED: Extreme heat wave bakes Bay Area after being hit by rolling blackouts amid record-breaking temps

"Today I called through the emergency response line, to try to get a human, and a woman that I spoke with, a gal named Bonnie, told me to go ahead- that nothing would be looked at until at least tomorrow. And she approved us coming here to the Residence Inn, or to a hotel," McCartney said.

Later McCartney received a phone call from a media relations representative who told her that the reimbursement is not guaranteed.

"Said that I'm welcome to submit a claim but he cannot guarantee PG&E would reimburse us for any of this," McCartney said. "Because of the rolling blackout and the fact that there is a quarter of a million people without power in the state of California, he said, 'go ahead and file your claim, but it's very difficult,' he goes. They always say they'll reimburse people but they hardly ever do."

McCartney said she received a phone call from the media relations representative who told her he called the senior director of operations. The neighborhood now has 15 PG&E trucks working to restore power.

ABC7 is waiting to hear when power has been restored.

For the latest on PG&E outages across the Bay Area click here.

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