Here’s how to prepare for a power outage in SLO County — planned or otherwise
Did your power go out during the recent rain storm?
Maybe your lights blinked off due to a proactive public safety power shutoff by PG&E. Or perhaps you lost electricity because the utility company was replacing a bunch of poles.
Lots of Central Coast residents have been caught unaware by the outages, even those deliberate shutoffs that PG&E is supposed to warn us about ahead of time.
But voicemails and emails can go unanswered, and snail mail can go unread for a while. Sometimes, we just forget what’s coming at us.
Then, when there’s sudden silence and darkness in our homes or businesses, our memory light bulbs flash on: “Oh, fudgeknuckle! PG&E’s doing more maintenance work!”
Computers stop computing. Routers stop routing. Televisions go dark, and refrigerators and freezers stop doing their thing. More critically, electric-powered medical equipment stops.
Yeah, we’re spoiled, being accustomed to having a roof, a bed, a bathroom and food in the cupboards. But living in a powerless home is rather like glamping without electricity in a place that’s not rigged for that.
Cambria couple’s fridge fries during power outage
Here’s a cautionary tale from Steve and Chris Siebuhr of Cambria, who hadn’t known a recent planned outage was coming. They believe their fridge fried during the electrical re-energizing process.
The Siebuhrs faced some of the same replacement issues I did recently, linked to shortages of the refrigerator units, the components needed to manufacture them and the people who deliver and install the newfangled iceboxes.
Fortunately, they found a refrigerator in stock that they like.
Now the Siebuhrs are in the process of seeking a PG&E refund, which means proving that their fridge failure was indeed caused by the power outage.
PG&E takes new steps to reduce wildfire risks
PG&E is well aware of the inconveniences caused by deliberate power shutoffs.
In late September, Teresa Alvarado, area vice president for PG&E, emailed customers about those measures taken during wildfire threats.
“One of the new steps that we have taken,” she wrote, “is adjusting the power-line safety settings of protection devices on the grid to automatically turn off electricity more quickly if the lines experience an issue.
“These can include tree branches, mylar balloons, even, unfortunately, wildlife striking equipment,” she continued. “By adjusting the sensitivity of these settings, power shuts off faster, reducing wildfire risk. Since these updated settings were implemented in late July 2020, PG&E has seen a decrease of more than 50% in ignitions that could have resulted in catastrophic wildfires, as compared to the prior three-year average.”
Alvarado acknowledged that, “while these settings make our electric system safer, they have resulted in more frequent, longer-duration outages for some of you. We have heard loud and clear the burden these outages are causing and that we must improve.”
She outlined some of the subsequent steps taken by PG&E:
- Fine tuning the sensitivity of each protection device to match the wildfire risk on each circuit;
- Improving communication between equipment to automatically limit outage size;
- Enhancing restoration patrols to restore power more quickly when it goes out, and
- Revamping the information that PG&E is able to share with customers during an outage.
Power outages are not a new concern
Some of us have experienced frequent power outages for decades — especially in Cambria, where aging trees tend to fall over power and cable lines.
Planned outages add another layer of protection, and irritation. And maintenance work continues, even as the rainy season hits.
Oct. 23 marked the beginning of California’s Flood Preparation Week, bookending the same month that started with the nation’s Fire Prevention Week.
Sure, the usual admonition for planned outages is to unplug those sensitive appliances and electronics ahead of time, especially the costly ones.
But each time we know a planned outage is coming, are we really going to pull out our fridge out from the wall, over our wood floor, just so we can reach behind it to unplug the fridge?
A surge protector could help, but lots of us don’t have room for that, and if the protector should trip, we’d be right back where we started, having to drag a heavy appliance across scratch-prone surfaces.
Here’s one suggestion: If you know ahead of time that PG&E is turning off the power, go to your electrical panel and flip the breakers that control major appliances.
If the breakers aren’t already marked, take time now to label them, so you can flip only the ones that power and protect those pricey devices.
That way, if you space out on the upcoming PG&E work, you can sub a different self-scold: “I forgot to flip the breakers.”
As we face more stormy winter, it pays to do label your breakers and take other actions to prepare. Those range from freezing containers of water to help keep that fridge cold to making sure your evacuation “go bag” is ready in case of flooding or a tree falling on your house.
Cleaning out gutters and getting tree debris off your roof always is a good move in any season, whether rain or wildfire.
On Oct. 21, with storms predicted, various utilities and governmental agencies were gearing up for emergency calls.
Hearst Castle in San Simeon has been working to repair failed drainage systems under the top part of the access road to the historic house monument. That project is “as ready as it could be,” according to Dan Falat, superintendent of the state park district that includes the Castle.
When crews began the project, possible storms during the repairs meant that, before they hit, “the goal was to get us to this point, even if we hadn’t finished the work,” he said via phone. “The majority of the new culverts have been put into place.”
Just in case, “we have contingency plans,” Falat said.
For a raft of hints and tips about power outages, go to informative, reliable websites, such as www.prepareslo.org/en/power-outages.aspx, www.ready.gov/power-outages, www.pge.com/en_US/residential/outages/alerts/alerts.page?WT.mc_id=Vanity_outagealerts.
If you have a generator, check out www.travelers.com/resources/home/safety/generator-safety?fromAgent=true.
For details specific to the North Coast, go to www.247ncep.com/ and www.cambriacsd.org/north-coast-emergency-preparedness.
Then hope your power doesn’t go off while you’re learning how to prepare for that to happen.
