PG&E Crews Working Safely and as Quickly as Possible in Response to Widespread Outages from New Year’s Eve Atmospheric River Storm

UPDATE: Jan. 5, 11:17 AM

More than 3,000 PG&E crew members, contractors and mutual-aid personnel are working to restore customers after last nights’ storm. Due to flooding, road closures, downed trees and other obstacles, crews might be delayed in repairing damaged equipment because of access issue. These issues may also delay updates to www.pge.com/outages. Once we can safely access areas, our crews visually inspect damage to our system before we can safely repair equipment and restore power.

UPDATE: Jan. 4, Noon

Since the winter storm over New Year’s Eve weekend, PG&E has been focused on restoration and preparing for another significant storm expected to hit our service area on Wednesday. Since the initial storm on Dec. 30 through Wednesday morning, PG&E crews have restored power to more than 574,322 customers. Of that number, 71% were restored within 6 hours, 79% restored within 12 hours, 86% restored within 18 hours and 92% restored within 24 hours.

More than 3,000 PG&E, contract and mutual-aid personnel are currently dedicated to storm response and customer service restoration.  We will continue to communicate updates as they are available. Please visit www.pge.com/outages for the most up to date outage information.

UPDATE: Jan. 3, 11 AM

Since the winter storm over New Year’s Eve weekend, PG&E has been focused on restoration and preparing for another significant storm expected to hit our service area on Wednesday. Since the initial storm on Dec. 30 through Tuesday morning, PG&E crews have restored power to more than 478,000 customers. Of that number, 71% were restored within 6 hours, 79% restored within 12 hours, 86% restored within 18 hours and 94% restored within 24 hours.

In addition to the more than 1,300 PG&E personnel on storm duty, mutual-aid crews from Southern California Edison arrived on Monday and are focused on restoration in the greater Stockton area. We will continue to communicate updates as they are available. Please visit www.pge.com/outages for the most up to date outage information.

UPDATE: Jan. 2, 12:15 PM

The holiday winter storm brought significant rain and wind that created hazardous conditions such as flooding, mud slides, and road closures which have delayed our restoration efforts for some customers. Since the storm began on Dec. 30 through Monday morning, PG&E crews have restored power to approximately 400,000 customers. Our focus today is on assessing damage and making needed repairs to restore power to the remaining customers affected by the storm. In addition to the more than 1,300 PG&E personnel on storm duty, we have mutual-aid crews arriving today from Southern California Edison focused on restoration in the greater Stockton area. We will continue to communicate updates on restoration as they are available. Please visit www.pge.com/outages for the most up to date outage information.

UPDATE: Jan. 1, 10 PM

The winter storm of December 31st brought significant precipitation that created hazardous conditions such as flooding, mud slides, and road closures which have delayed our restoration efforts for some customers. At this time, power is not expected to be restored this evening. We are bringing in additional crews to complete assessments and power restoration efforts once we can safely access equipment. We will continue to communicate updates on restoration as they are available. Please visit www.pge.com/outages for the most up to date outage information.

UPDATE: Jan. 1, 8 PM

Approximately 46,000 customer outages, including 24,000 outages in the Stockton Division, 11,000 in the Sacramento Division, approximately 7,000 in the Bay Area, and approximately 2,500 in PG&E’s Central Coast Division.

Flooding and road closures continue to restrict inspection progress in some highly impacted areas, particularly in the Sacramento and Stockton locations. As floodwaters recede and roads are cleared, PG&E will safely restore service to our impacted communities as quickly as possible.

 Mutual aid crews from Southern California Edison are expected to arrive on Monday, January 2nd, supporting PG&E in inspecting and restoring service to customers in the Stockton Division. 

UPDATE: Jan.1, 12 Noon

Approximately 95,000 customer outages, including 39,000 outages in the Stockton Division, 30,000 in the Sacramento Division, nearly 12,000 in the Bay Area, and approximately 5,000 in PG&E’s Central Coast Division.

Santa Cruz County has been hit particularly hard — and with safety for all as our highest priority — PG&E stood down some operations and pulled crews out of the Santa Cruz mountains on Saturday as a result of dangerous conditions, delaying restoration efforts in some portions of that area. Crews are back working safely in Santa Cruz this morning in an effort to restore customers as quickly as possible. 

UPDATE: Jan. 1, 11 AM

The New Year’s Eve atmospheric river storm delivered heavy rain and snow across PG&E’s service area, with water levels rising in lakes, rivers, and creeks, resulting in localized flooding, landslides, road closures and power outages in some areas.

PG&E prepared in advance for this event including mobilizing emergency crews and equipment throughout our service area, and crews are working safely and as quickly as possible to respond to power outages outside of flood areas.

As of Sunday (Jan. 1) at 11 a.m., there were 106,000 customer outages, including 43,000 outages in the Stockton Division, 33,000 in the Sacramento Division and nearly 15,000 in the Bay Area.

Flooding and road closures have restricted PG&E crew’s access in some highly impacted areas. As floodwaters recede, PG&E will restore gas and electric service to our impacted communities.

PG&E will continue to update customers with estimated times of restoration as access is gained and progress is made on any necessary repairs to facilities.

PG&E encourages customers to have a plan, prepare for power outages and above all else, stay safe. Customers can get updates on outages in their neighborhood through a variety of channels:

• Contact the outage information line at 1-800-743-5002.
• Access the Electric Outage Map online at pge.com. 
• Customers can also log in to their account through pge.com and sign up to receive proactive outage alerts through email, text or phone. 

Meteorologists predict more wet weather on Monday, followed by another atmospheric river storm on Wednesday and Thursday with gusty winds and moderate to heavy rain impacting already saturated soils.