PG&E power outages likely in California on Tuesday, new tool lets you see what time your home is at risk of losing power

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) – PG&E says more power outages are likely in California from Tuesday afternoon to Tuesday evening as a heat wave continues to put pressure on the state’s power grid.

California ISO (Independent System Operator) declared another Flex alert and a Level 3 emergency through Wednesday. A level 3 emergency means that utilities like PG&E are required to perform rotary interruptions to reduce the electrical load on the grid, to avoid large and unplanned outages.

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PG&E isn’t able to warn customers in advance, he says, but they’ve implemented a tool that lets you see how likely you are to lose energy.

First, you use the PG&E map to find your address:

Open the map in a new window by clicking here.

Then you will get a “Failure lockout” number and a “Secondary failure lockout” letter. Compare this combination of letters and numbers to the second column in the table below. This will tell you which series of closures your house is included in.

For example, if your fault block is 1 and your secondary fault block is M, then your number is 1M, putting you in the first set of interrupts starting at 4 p.m.

If your number is 6A, you are in the fifth round of blackouts, which would not occur until 8 p.m., if at all.

The PG&E 50 interrupt block will not lose power in DC failures.

PG&E plans to start cutting power to customers in the first block and then cutting off additional power only as the night progresses.

Outages are estimated to last two to three hours after they start, according to PG&E.

Governor Gavin Newsom addressed the power outages at a press conference Monday.

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“Let me clarify this: we have failed to predict and plan for these shortages and this is unacceptable,” the governor said.

As of Friday, the governor said the state has taken the following steps to reduce energy use:

• Newsom signed an “emergency proclamation to free up energy capacity” and therefore reduce the need for blackouts. The move allows “energy users and utilities to use backup power sources to relieve pressure on the grid during peak hours during the energy emergency”.
• Heavy energy users switch to back-up power between peak hours from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.
• Utilities will use the energy they have stored for PSPS
• Work with ports to reduce network consumption when ships are in port
• Work with large consumers to reduce energy consumption

“Even with all of this, we may not be successful,” Newsom said. “I’m not happy with what happened. I’m not taking the place of anyone behind.”

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