by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
How is this going to work as Gov. Newsom pushes California to an all-electricity grid?
PG&E’s alert says:
“A Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) occurs in response to severe weather to help prevent a wildfire. A severe weather system is moving through parts of PG&E’s service territory. Outages and outage risk will continue until the severe weather has passed. Once weather conditions improve, crews will begin inspecting and making repairs where needed. Power will be restored as soon as it is safe to do so. We attempt to notify affected customers by phone, text and email.”
A friend who lives in tree-lined East Sacramento in downtown said his power was off all day Monday, from 9:30 AM until 7:30 PM. I live in another downtown Sacramento neighborhood with massive trees, but our power remained on all day.
This is the new normal for Northern California residents every time the wind blows, because PG&E is concerned their power lines could topple over and cause fires, as has happened annually in rural areas.
Apparently it is more effective in California to shut ratepayers’ electricity off than to practice proper forest management.
How is this going to work as Gov. Newsom pushes California to an all-electricity grid? Frequent power shut offs while moving to an all-electric state goes against the tide of facts.
