Just like each day’s weather, circumstances for each Public Safety Power Shutoff will be unique. The outage, which includes the weather event plus restoration time, could last several days. We will only restore power when it is safe to do so.
Steps to restoration
- Weather All Clear. After the extreme weather has passed and it's safe to do so, our crews can go into the field to begin patrols and inspections.
- Patrol and Inspect. Our crews work to visually inspect our power lines exposed to the extreme weather event to look for potential weather-related damage to the lines, poles and/or towers. This is done by vehicle, foot and air. There are several challenges during the inspection phase, including:
- Some locations require workers to travel on narrow access roads. In locations with no vehicle access, crews might need to hike into remote and/or mountainous areas to inspect equipment.
- Operations are limited at night due to limited visibility.
- Isolate and Repair Damaged Equipment. Where equipment damage is found, crews will work to isolate the damaged area from the rest of the system so other parts of the system can be restored and work as safely and as quickly as possible to make repairs.
- Restoration. Once the poles, towers and lines are deemed safe to energize, a call is made to the PG&E Control Center to complete the re-energization process, power is then restored to customers.
- Customer Notification. Customers are notified that power has been restored.
For planning purposes, we suggest customers prepare for outages lasting longer than 48 hours.