Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has warned that approximately 70,000 customers across 29 California counties could face precautionary electricity shutoffs beginning Wednesday evening, October 14, as high winds and exceptionally dry conditions increase the risk of wildfires.
The California utility issued advance notifications on Tuesday, October 13, ahead of a potentially prolonged wind event expected to continue through Saturday, October 17.
The planned Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) operation could affect customers across Northern and Central California, particularly in the Sierra Nevada, southern Central Coast, and parts of the North and East Bay.
The warning highlights the continuing challenges facing California’s electricity infrastructure as utilities balance wildfire prevention against the economic and operational consequences of deliberately interrupting power supplies.
PG&E said offshore Diablo winds are expected to peak Thursday across the northern and central Sierra Nevada and portions of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Conditions could deteriorate further Friday as Mono winds strengthen in the southern Sierra, while Santa Ana winds spread into southern Los Padres and the Tehachapi region.
Extremely low humidity, potentially falling into single digits across some areas, combined with dry vegetation could create conditions in which electrical equipment poses an elevated wildfire ignition risk.
Among the counties facing the largest potential disruptions are San Luis Obispo, with approximately 10,460 customers affected; Placer, with 9,063; Calaveras, with 8,550; and El Dorado, with 6,907.
The utility estimates that roughly 3,920 customers enrolled in its Medical Baseline Program could be affected, along with customers across five Tribal jurisdictions.
Approximately 4,000 customers who experienced precautionary outages earlier in the week could face further interruptions. Meanwhile, PG&E has removed around 5,700 customers from the scope of the earlier shutdown plan.
The company emphasized that the geographic extent of the outages remains subject to changing weather conditions.
PG&E is using higher-resolution weather forecasting and machine-learning models to narrow the areas requiring electricity shutdowns.
The technology provides localized wind-gust predictions, allowing the utility to assess wildfire threats more precisely than conventional regional forecasting models.
Combined with sectionalizing technology, which enables individual portions of the distribution network to be isolated, the improved forecasts could help limit unnecessary interruptions.
These measures form part of PG&E’s broader wildfire mitigation strategy, which includes hardening electricity infrastructure, expanding underground power lines, and deploying automated fire detection systems.
The utility’s long-term infrastructure program includes an initiative to place 10,000 miles of power lines underground, alongside investments in stronger poles, covered conductors, and enhanced power line safety settings.
Preventive electricity shutdowns remain a consequential operational tool for California utilities operating in areas vulnerable to extreme weather and vegetation-related wildfire risks.
Although such outages can reduce the likelihood of electrical infrastructure igniting fires, they also expose households, businesses, and critical services to potentially significant disruptions.
For PG&E, the latest warning underscores the importance of investments in grid resilience, predictive technology, and infrastructure modernization as the utility works to reduce wildfire exposure while maintaining electricity reliability.
PG&E, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation, provides electricity and natural gas services to more than 16 million people across Northern and Central California.
Customers potentially affected by the planned outages can monitor developments through the utility’s official outage notification service.
The final scope and duration of any power interruptions will depend on evolving weather conditions and PG&E’s assessment of wildfire risks.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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