Thousands more North Bay customers face potential PG&E power shutoffs
By Imani Sutton · Reporting from Atlanta ·
PG&E is not managing a power grid. It is managing a risk profile. By expanding Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) to 88,000 customers across 29 California counties, the company is treating its customers like a fuse. When the wind hits 45 mph, PG&E pulls the plug to protect its own balance sheet. This is not a "last resort" for public safety. It is a corporate hedge against the cost of doing business.
The overhead gamble
The risk is built into the hardware. According to the company's own 10-K filing, PG&E owns 108,000 circuit miles of distribution lines. Roughly 73% of those lines are overhead. That is a massive amount of exposed wire swaying in the wind. KCRA reports that dry conditions and gusts are the current trigger. The Press Democrat notes that in some North Bay counties, the number of customers at risk jumped overnight.
The company argues that these shutoffs are necessary to prevent wildfires. Their best case is simple: a blackout is better than a blaze. They claim that killing the power is the only way to stop a spark from becoming a catastrophe. But a utility that cannot keep the lights on during a breeze is not a utility. It is a liability. The real solution is not a shutoff. It is undergrounding the lines.
A balance sheet acting as a fuse
The decision to cut power is driven by the ledger. The utility carries approximately $51.9 billion of outstanding indebtedness. It also self-insures wildfire liabilities up to $1.0 billion. This makes the company financially allergic to any live wire in a storm. This is the same mechanism found in the California Public Utilities Commission outage reports. Both events use PSPS as a risk-mitigation strategy to avoid liability for weather-induced wildfires.
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company bankruptcy forced a shift toward these preemptive shutoffs. The Camp Fire established the precedent for these protocols. Now, the company uses a $15 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy to finance its grid. Yet, it still relies on the "off" switch to manage its risk. This is the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station decommissioning in a different form. It shifts the operational cost from the provider to the public.
The cost of corporate hedging
The people who absorb the cost are always the same. ABC30 Fresno reports that thousands in the Central Valley face outages. Statewide, 5,500 Medical Baseline customers are at risk. Six tribal governments are also in the path. Paul Moreno, a PG&E spokesperson, told customers to obtain dry ice to keep medicine cold. Telling vulnerable people to buy dry ice echoes the Texas power grid failure.
Residents are tired of the cycle. Tim Roffe, a Pollock Pines resident, said, “At this point, it’s like here we go again, the breeze is blowing.” He called the shutoffs "ridiculous." The company provides community resource centers for Wi-Fi and snacks. But a charging station is not a replacement for a reliable grid. It is a band-aid on a systemic failure.
PG&E will likely expand these shutoffs as winds persist. The company is financially incapable of risking a single spark. It will continue to protect its $12.0 billion annual capital expenditure schedule while local businesses absorb the losses. The state's safety certifications provide a legal shield for these blackouts. Until the federal DOE loan is tied to actual reliability instead of just "hardening," the company will keep the switch in the off position. The customers pay the bills, but they are the ones left in the dark.