Thousands Of East Bay Businesses, Homes In The Dark After PG&E Cuts Power
LAFAYETTE (KPIX) - People who live and work in Lafayette were in the dark Saturday night after PG&E shut off their power during the latest round of public safety power shutoffs.
Jackson's Wines & Spirits says in the run up to the shutoffs, its top seller was ice.
"We've been having to make our own bags all day long, because people are constantly coming in, we had to cut it to a two-bag per person limit," said employee Rob Davies.
The shop does not have a generator, and it estimates it may lose up to $10,000 dollars in sales for each day the power is out.
"For home, I'm set up with generators and everything, but for everybody else and businesswise, I think it's terrible," said Davies. "A lot of people are losing money, we're losing hours of our pay."
Around 8:15 p.m. Saturday, the power went out at the shopping plaza off Mount Diablo Boulevard, about 3 hours later than PG&E had initially planned.
"We don't do this because it's the easy thing for us to do, we do it because it's the safe and right thing for us to do," said Andy Vesey, Utility CEO and President at PG&E. "It's a challenging thing to do, but the number one priority we have is your safety."
PG&E says more than 2.5 million people across 36 counties were expected to be without power through the weekend.
This is the first power shutoff for Berkeley resident Ann Reidy.
"Not as prepared as we should probably be, because we have an electric car that we need tomorrow and it isn't charged and we just realized that we should have planned better and charged it in advance," she said.
We saw many East Bay shoppers picking up last minute items Saturday evening.
"I do think it's a little bit stressful for everyone, but I get why PG&E is doing it and I would rather be safe than sorry," said Tara Shirakh of Lafayette.
