Free Republic

California’s energy overseer warned of blackouts starting Wednesday and urged residents to “avoid using large appliances and charging electric vehicles, and turn off unnecessary lights.” The state also wants those thermostats set no lower than 78 degrees. Called a Flex Alert, the California Independent System Operator says households should “reduce energy use from 4-9 p.m. when the system is most stressed because demand for electricity remains high and there is less solar energy available.”“The power grid operator,” the notice says, “expects to call on Californians for voluntary energy conservation via Flex alerts over the long weekend.”And not drive anywhere, I...

he addressed people who can't afford to replace food that spoiled during the shutoffs

CLEARLAKE, Calif. — For four nights, Eliana Rubin cared for her newborn son, James, by candlelight. The baby, 11 weeks old, is her first. He’s colicky and wakes often, she said. As the latest Pacific Gas & Electric safety shut-off dragged on this week, she lit a flame by her bedside each time the child woke, but was careful to blow it out before falling asleep again. Even more than the dark, she worried about the near-freezing temperatures inside her home in this remote part of Northern California. “The thing is the cold,” she said Tuesday. “I am, like, folding...

Many people are without cell service after PG&E cut power to two milllion people and wildfires burn across California. In Marin County, close to 50 percent of all cell sites are down. In Sonoma County, 17 percent of sites are without power.  "The biggest concern is that when it comes to 911 calls, 81 percent of 911 calls are made from your wireless phone so having cell sites down it's an incredible public safety concern that consumers cannot access emergency services," said Ana Maria Johnson with the California Public Utilities Commission. Johnson said cell towers don't have back-up power systems because cell companies are not required...

Shares of PG&E Corp. plummeted on heavy volume to a record low Friday, after Citigroup warned that the latest California wildfire, which the utility may have helped start, could render them worthless. PG&E PCG-28.5% said Friday that it filed an incident report with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regarding the “Kincade” fire, which broke out near Geyserville in Sonoma County.

New evacuations were ordered for at least 50,000 people living in Sonoma County near a huge wildfire and millions of Californians will have their power cut again as the state's largest utility said it would cut power again for the third time in as many weeks because of looming strong winds and high fire danger....PG&E said it would begin blackouts in the afternoon for about 940,000 homes and businesses in 36 counties for 48 hours or longer throughout the San Francisco Bay area, wine country and Sierra foothills. The blackouts are expected to last until Monday

SAN FRANCISCO—Californians are facing a potential second round of pre-emptive power outages, with the state’s largest utility working to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires as hot, gusty winds are forecast later this week. PG&E Corp. said Monday it might cut electricity to parts of 16 counties in the Sierra Foothills and north of San Francisco. About 200,000 households and businesses were notified that they might lose power starting late Wednesday, the bankrupt utility said. At a press conference, PG&E Chief Executive Bill Johnson said shutting off power to hundreds of thousands of customers again might be necessary, given how...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Pacific Gas & Electric Company is considering potential power shutoffs this week for portions of 17 counties, citing strong winds as the reason, the company said Sunday evening. Extreme weather conditions and dry fuels projected to last about 18 to 24 hours on Oct. 23 and 24 may cause a Public Safety Power Shutoff to counties across Northern and Central California, according to PG&E.

PG&E Corp.’s chief executive said Friday that it could take as long as 10 years for the company to improve its electric system enough to significantly diminish the need to pull the plug on customers to reduce the risk of sparking fires. Bill Johnson, who joined the company in May, made the disclosure at a California Public Utilities Commission hearing where the panel’s president, Marybel Batjer, sharply criticized the company’s “inadequate execution” of a shut-off in which it turned off power to large portions of Northern California for more than two days last week. The commission convened an emergency meeting...

Going solar isn’t necessarily any protection from California’s new “planned” power outages, and local residents and businesses are enduring a lot more than just a few inconveniences. Bloomberg’s Chris Martin has a story on California’s troubles with one of my favorite headlines ever: “Californians Learning That Solar Panels Don't Work in Blackouts.” Apparently, many of California’s would-be Earth-savers had no idea that just putting solar panels on their roofs doesn’t mean they’ll have power when PG&E switches it off. As Martin explains:

... California residents have come face-to-face with an uncomfortable new reality: Large swaths of the state—by itself the fifth-largest economy in the world, and home to the globe’s most technologically advanced companies—may be subject to the sort of abrupt blackouts normally associated with underdeveloped countries. The state’s three big investor-owned utilities now have regulatory permission to cut off power to parts of their service territories during strong winds to reduce the risk of their electric lines causing wildfires, after at least 21 blazes linked to utility equipment killed more than 100 people and burned tens of thousands of homes in...

One valuable lesson has been learned from the California blackouts concerning the greens' vaunted solar power. People with solar panels fitted to their homes have long acted under the impression that these granted them some immunity to blackouts. They now know better. Those who went to the heavy expense of purchasing and installing solar panels are in the same situation as their neighbors: no light, no heat, no power. How does this make sense? If you've got a system that generates power all by itself, with no outside aid or assistance necessary, then it's a sure thing that it'll continue...

AN FRANCISCO — It was a problem that California had come to dread. Weather models were signaling extreme winds and dry conditions from one end of the state to the other. The risk of wildfires was high. Pacific Gas & Electric, the giant utility whose power lines and transformers have been blamed for a series of disastrous wildfires in recent years, was determined to prevent another one. Just before last weekend, the company informed state officials that it might shut off power to a large area of Northern California, potentially leaving millions of people in the dark — something no...

Californians who screech about climate change were furious after discovering that the expensive solar panels they installed on their rooftops don’t work during a blackout unless they buy an equally expensive battery system. This week, a mass power outage occurred when utility company PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric Co.) shut down the electric grid in Northern California to prevent wildfires, which have been ravaging the state. The grid shutdown in 34 counties caused more than 738,000 area customers to lose power, KCRA reported. The irony is that California’s insistence on solar panel installation has not helped at all during the...

Pacific Gas & Electric, California’s biggest utility company, shut off electricity to more than 1 million people on Wednesday in an effort to prevent wildfires caused by downed power lines. The utility said it cut power to more than 500,000 customers in Northern California and that it plans to gradually turn off electricity to nearly 800,000 customers to prevent its equipment from starting wildfires during hot, windy weather. A second group of about 234,000 customers will lose power starting at noon, the utility said. The power outages are expected to affect about 2.5 million people. The utility plans to shut...

The unpopular move sparked a run on supplies at stores and came after two years of catastrophic fires sent Pacific Gas & Electric into bankruptcy and forced it to take more aggressive steps to prevent blazes. The drastic measure caused a wave of impacts, from long lines at supermarkets and hardware stores to backups at traffic lights that had gone dark. Schools and universities canceled classes, offices were closed and many businesses were shuttered. With the sun shining, not a wisp of smoke in the air and only gentle breezes, the historic action was condemned by those inconvenienced. “It’s unreasonable....

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. shut down power to 500,000 homes and business – an estimated 2-million-plus Northern California residents – creating the largest blackout in state history. The move, designed as a massive defensive tactic to avoid wildfires amid high winds, created confusion, consternation and angry responses from both the public and public officials.

The power is out in Northern California. More than 1 million Californians are now without electricity, one of modern life’s essentials that is frequently taken for granted. The blackout was done on purpose—to prevent sparks from powerlines that could ignite deadly wildfires. Before planned blackouts are through in two or three days, as many as 3 million Californians may go without power. On the surface, the blackout and its causes are simple to understand. But the deeper causes are complicated, span decades of public policy, and dozens of overlapping unintended—and intended—consequences of decisions, both related and unrelated. The wind in...

This is an urgent message from the County of Santa Clara Office of Emergency Management. The time is 11:27 p.m. (PST, Wednesday October 8, 2019). Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has begun the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS), for areas of Santa Clara County. Your location could be affected and lose power for up to seven daysPG&E is providing a Customer Resource Center that will have charging stations for phones and plug-in medical devices, drinking water, air conditioning, and other amenities. This will be offered at the Avaya Stadium, at 1123 Coleman Avenue, San Jose 95110 from 8:00 a.m. to...

Just been informed the power is off in the Bay Area(Ca). Is this a 3rd world country? Is the power company(PGE) trying to avoid another entire town burning down again? Unacceptable. Make it political. This is the richest country in the world. No excuses.