PG&E Announces Plan to Restore Services to Butte County Customers After Camp Fire
- Electric Service for Nearly All Customers to be Restored by End of Year
- Multi-step Gas Restoration Process Underway—Some Customers to Receive Service in December
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced its operational plan to restore electric and gas service to
customers affected by the Camp Fire in Butte County.
Weather and access permitting, PG&E expects to be able to accomplish the following milestones to support service restoration
in impacted communities:
- Restoring power to nearly all customers who can receive electric service by the end of December
2018
- Beginning in December and continuing through the first quarter of 2019, gas service will be restored
to those who can receive it
In many cases, individual restorations for gas or electric service in the fire-impacted areas may not be possible. In those
instances, PG&E will be working with local leaders on a longer-term plan to rebuild the electric and gas system.
“Helping these communities and our customers continue to recover and start to rebuild is our absolute focus right now. We have
nearly 4,000 personnel in the area deployed to safely restore electric and gas service as quickly as possible. The dedicated men
and women of PG&E, many of whom also live in these areas, will work side by side with our customers and our communities
throughout this process,” said Geisha Williams, President and CEO of PG&E Corporation.
More than 7,000 customers have been restored to service since PG&E crews were able to safely begin work. As of Dec. 4,
approximately 2,900 electric customers in Butte County remain without power due to impacts from the fire.
The Paradise electric substation has been restored, and PG&E crews are rebuilding the main electric lines from the
substation to repower key areas of Paradise where customers can accept power.
Gas service, which was shut off to approximately 12,000 homes and businesses in and around Paradise for safety reasons on Nov.
9, remains shut off as crews continue to assess systems.
Safe restoration of the gas service is based on an (8) step process: (1) cut off more than 10,500 services to isolate the
damaged structures from the gas main; (2) identify damaged equipment that may require repairs (3) perform a safety pressure test of
the gas main, (4) perform a leak survey to confirm containment of the gas main, (5) perform a gas safety purge to remove any air,
(6) re-pressurize the gas main system with gas, (7) perform a final gas leak survey and (8) perform the relighting of appliances to
restore gas service.
In the interim, PG&E will provide temporary gas service for critical customers. The company set up portable natural gas
service to key buildings in the Town of Paradise, including the town hall, police and fire stations, and to the Feather River
Health Center.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of
PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric energy companies in the United States.
Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16
million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit
www.pge.com and
pge.com/news.
Media Relations
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