What’s going on and why? The first wave of preemptive blackouts has started in California's Bay Area as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) shut off power to more than 141,000 Bay Area customers. The first blackout occurred before dawn Wednesday, starting an expected wave of blackouts intended to avert a destructive wildfire like those that took dozens of lives and destroyed thousands of homes over the past two years. Bay Area residents have been advised to be prepared for 48 to 72 hours without power.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle:
"Sonoma County was hit hardest by the first preemptive cuts, with 67,000 residences and businesses losing power, according to a PG&E spokeswoman. In Napa County, 32,750 customers lost power, while Solano County cuts totaled 31,630. Marin County outages stood at 10,183.
The utility has said it will shut off power to 800,000 customers in Northern and Central California in waves, beginning with the northernmost areas and moving south, with an estimated 2.4 million people affected."
Who is this impacting? Mobility programs based in Northern California and across much of the state, any employees relocating or traveling in and out of the area, and those currently living in the area will be impacted. Relocating employees in blackout areas will likely have challenges with utilizing credit cards for payments and getting cash out of ATMs, so employees will want to make sure to have cash available to them for the duration of the blackouts. The ability to execute on travel plans will likely be impacted for travel dates during the blackout periods.
What’s Plus doing? This is a developing situation, and we are proactively monitoring it to ensure everyone relocating in the area has the critical information they need. With this goal in mind, here are some steps provided by PG&E to plan for being without electricity:
- Identify backup charging methods for phones and keep hard copies of emergency contacts, such as numbers of hospitals, fire departments, police, friends and relatives.
- Charge your phone any opportunity that you have, at the office or in your car. Most phones also have built in flashlights.
- Plan for medical needs like medication that needs refrigeration.
- Fill up your gas tank in advance of potential power shutoff.
- Keep in mind the needs of the elderly, young children and pets.
- Keep non-perishable, emergency food and water on hand.
- Minimize opening your refrigerator or freezer during an outage to maintain the cooler temperature longer.
- Use battery-operated flashlights, and not candles, due to the risk of fire.
- Unplug or turn off all electric appliances during the power shutoff to avoid overloading circuits and to prevent fire hazards when power is restored.
For immediate access to updates and information, please follow these instructions to receive zip code alerts directly from PG&E:
- To enroll, call 1-877-9000-743. Alerts will be delivered via automated call.
- To sign up for text alerts, text “ENROLL” to 97633 and follow the prompts.
We will continue to monitor the situation, and because of the volume of people going to the PG&E website, we offer a few additional resources for you to keep track of the latest in this situation:
Click here for a list of areas impacted by PG&E power shutoffs
Click here for the locations of resource centers in the Bay Area
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