Putting Safety at the Forefront: PG&E Encourages Customers to Plan Ahead for Upcoming Weather System

After a Dry March in Much of Northern and Central California, Meteorologists Forecasting Rain and Mountain Snow

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As PG&E’s meteorology team monitors a weather system headed for Northern and Central California this weekend, the company has a plan to safely respond to outages and reminds customers to also have a plan to stay safe.

Forecasts indicate that Northern California will experience rainfall and mountain snow beginning Saturday. Meteorologists expect the system to move through the Bay Area on Sunday. Some rainfall is also expected in Central California on Sunday.

"This system could bring much-needed moisture to our drought-affected service area, but at the same time, we might also see weather-related power outages. Our team is closely watching this rainfall so that we can stand ready to restore power safely and as quickly as possible. We also urge our customers to stay safe and have a plan,” said Scott Strenfel, PG&E manager of meteorology and fire science.

PG&E’s meteorology team has developed a Storm Outage Prediction Model that incorporates real-time weather forecasts, 30 years of historical weather and outage data and system knowledge to predict where and when storm effects will be most severe. This model enables the company to pre-stage crews and equipment as weather approaches to enable safe and rapid response to outages.

PG&E is urging its customers to also take the necessary steps to be prepared and stay safe.

Safety Tips:

• Never touch downed wires: If you see a downed power line, assume it is energized and extremely dangerous. Do not touch or try to move it—and keep children and animals away. Report downed power lines immediately by calling 911 and by calling PG&E at 1-800-743-5002.
• Use flashlights, not candles: During a power outage, use battery-operated flashlights, and not candles, due to the risk of fire. If you must use candles, please keep them away from drapes, lampshades and small children. Do not leave candles unattended.
• Have a backup phone: If you have a telephone system that requires electricity to work, such as a cordless phone or answering machine, plan to have a standard telephone or cellular phone ready as a backup.
• Have fresh drinking water, ice: Freeze plastic containers filled with water to make blocks of ice that can be placed in your refrigerator/freezer during an outage to prevent foods from spoiling. Blue Ice from your picnic cooler also works well in the freezer.
• Use generators safely: Customers with standby electric generators should make sure they are properly installed by a licensed electrician in a well-ventilated area. Improperly installed generators pose a significant danger to customers, as well as crews working on power lines. If using portable generators, be sure they are in a well-ventilated area.
• Turn off appliances: If you experience an outage, unplug or turn off all electrical appliances to avoid overloading circuits and to prevent fire hazards when power is restored. Simply leave a single lamp on to alert you when power returns. Turn your appliances back on one at a time when conditions return to normal.
• Safely clean up: After the inclement weather has passed, be sure to safely clean up. Never touch downed wires and always call 811 or visit 811express.com at least two full business days before digging to have all underground utilities safely marked.

Other tips can be found at pge.com/beprepared.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/news.