PG&E Considers Credits After Oct. 9 Outage
SANTA ROSA (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric says it is exploring giving credits to Northern California customers affected by an Oct. 9 power shut-off intended to prevent strong winds from damaging equipment and sparking fires.
PG&E president Bill Johnson said Tuesday he agrees with Gov. Gavin Newsom's suggestion that the company credit its customers. But Johnson said details still need to be hammered out.
PG&E Statement on Oct. 9 Public Safety Power Shutoff Customer Bill Credit. https://t.co/osdd1QDfBR pic.twitter.com/WG7BsfYjoh
— Pacific Gas & Electric (@PGE4Me) October 30, 2019
Newsom had suggested $100 per household or $250 per business. Johnson said customers deserve credits because the utility handled the outage poorly — with a faulty website, inaccurate maps and unreliable lines of communication.
As of 5 p.m Tuesday, PG&E says about 435,000 customers — or nearly 1.1 million people — were without power.
The overall weather picture in northern areas is improving, as powerful, dry winds bring extreme fire weather to Southern California.