San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar blasted PG&E this week for disturbing west-side residents and businesses over the last few months with recurring power outages and little to no explanation.
Melgar, who sits on the Land Use and Transportation Committee, held a hearing Monday to learn what protocols the utility company has in place for when these outages happen, as well as try to determine how some of San Francisco’s aging infrastructure might hold up when faced with more extreme weather conditions such as severe storms or drought.
She said that San Francisco and west-side residents have struggled with climate change and changing weather patterns over the last two years.
“We understand that the power goes out because of storms and the trees coming down, but we’re curious as to what is happening with these outages not related to the weather and what it says about our long-term infrastructure,” she said during the hearing, noting that city officials plan on adding more housing units in the area.
Rosie Dilger, PG&E’s local government affairs representative, said that from the start of January through Feb. 3, San Francisco had 80 planned outages and 77 unplanned outages. Of the 77 unplanned outages, about 17 went on for five or fewer minutes, while more than half lasted more than five minutes.
Leading up to the storms earlier this month, Dilger said that PG&E put power poles, power lines, transformers and other equipment at yards throughout its service territory to ensure that crews could restore power to affected areas as soon as possible. The company also activated emergency centers to efficiently allocate crews, materials and other resources, she said.
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Dilger said PG&E officials coordinated communication and updates with the Department of Public Works, the SFPUC and the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department.
PG&E officials said the Feb. 5 storm was the third-largest single-day storm effect in the company’s 119-year history. Around a million customers were affected throughout the Bay Area, and more than 20,000 customers in San Francisco alone.
Melgar said the outages were upsetting given that San Franciscans are already dealing with rate increases.
“It’s expensive,” she said. “We’re paying more per kilowatt hour than folks in Southern California by quite a bit.”
PG&E officials said that the rate increases are needed to fund electrical-equipment upgrades, which will make them foolproof in extreme weather and reduce wildfire risks.
When asked about a timeline for replacing the aging infrastructure in Melgar’s district, PG&E officials said that the company has yet to prepare that information. Melgar responded that a follow-up hearing would be held to hammer out a timeline.
