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LOS ANGELES – With forest fires becoming more and more common in California, power companies have found themselves on the defensive. Their equipment has been designated as a common culprit. Now, to reduce the risk, they remove a tool rarely used: the power outage.
Tens of thousands of northern Californians were cut off Sunday as strong winds triggered a fire warning in a region devastated by fires a year ago, including Napa and Sonoma counties, the main wine region of the state.
The action was taken by Pacific Gas and Electric, whose territory covers most of central and northern California. PG & E and Southern California Edison have warned tens of thousands of others that they too could face impending power outages.
Officials said Monday that they were acting solely for security reasons. "We have always used this tool," said Phil Herrington, executive vice president of transmission and distribution at Southern California Edison. "Based on our experience, from our point of view, the threat of wildfires increases."
But the responsibility for forest fires is increasingly a concern for businesses and their investors – and consumer groups have questioned whether power outages are an excuse for isolating public services.
The responsibility for the wildfires was one of the biggest problems of the state legislature this year, because one wondered if billions of dollars of damage caused by fires nothing until in 2017 could bring at least one of the utilities to declare themselves bankrupt.
Legislators have adopted a measure including funding to reduce the risk of fire and provisions to financially maintain Pacific Gas and Electric. But the bill has left the public services open to responsibility.
The ratings of the three state-owned utility bonds were downgraded by Moody's Investors Service last month due to the financial risk associated with the forest fires.
Some consumer rights advocates claimed that by resorting to blackouts, utilities went too far to protect themselves. Advocates say that power outages or even their fear give the public services full latitude for the state to be obliged to compensate them.
"When utilities do not get what they want, they start cutting food," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group active in various fields. "They were disappointed by the legislature. They clearly want more. They do not want any responsibility.
Mindy Spatt, a spokeswoman for the Utility Reform Network, who represents consumers before California regulators, said his organization worried about the general power of corporations to cut people's power.
"It's always scary for consumers to trust them for a problem of this nature," Ms. Spatt said.
Forest fires have gone from a seasonal event to an event throughout the year. Current law allows utilities to cut electricity to customers whenever public safety is threatened.
"The changing weather conditions we are seeing need to look at everything in a new light," Herrington said. "It's something that is really a last resort for us."
Southern California Edison has resorted to power outages in wildfire prevention in 2003 and again in 2017 in the Idyllwild area of Riverside County. Over the weekend, 130,000 customers were warned that they could face power outages in the face of the strong winds of Santa Ana – a long-standing fall plague, blowing warm and arid gusts of interior deserts to brush and woods.
San Diego Gas and Electric became the main user of the strategy after a series of fires in 2007 killed 10 people and destroyed hundreds of homes. Since 2013, the public service has reduced its service 19 times. On Sunday and Monday, 4,000 of its customers were notified of potential power outages, although only 360 suffered a blackout.
The danger in Southern California is acute after 12 months of unusual drought. But the biggest threat over the weekend was in the north of the country, which also experienced a drought as winds rose.
In total, 60,000 customers lost their food in the Pacific Gas and Electric service area on Sunday night. This was the first time that PG & E was acting for fire prevention. 37,000 more customers received warnings.
PG & E said that about 70% of people affected by the power outage would be energized again by Monday night. The National Meteorological Service said that "critical weather conditions in case of fire" in the foothills and mountains could continue until Tuesday.
Utilities said that before imposing a power outage, they had assessed the wind speed, temperature, humidity, vegetation and other factors. They also work with emergency personnel and other state authorities when they decide to discontinue service.
With the growing threat of forest fires, "we are taking further steps in our service area to continually assess, evolve, and adapt," said Melissa Subbotin, spokesperson for Pacific Gas and Electric.
Bill Powers, a San Diego engineer who serves as an expert witness on behalf of consumers before California regulators and across the country, is concerned about the utility's use of continuous power cuts.
In a report released in March by the Sierra Club, Powers said the use of the policy limited the responsibility of utilities in conditions of high fire risk while leaving customers vulnerable to losses of pumps. water, life support systems and food refrigeration.
"These are not situations of force majeure," Powers said in an interview, but rather reflects the concern of the electricity companies about liability.
Mr. Court of Consumer Watchdog stated that his organization was planning to request a hearing on the use of forest fire service interruptions. Although state law allows utilities to cut electricity for reasons of public safety, there is no explicit provision for forest fires.
"They have the legal obligation, as a regulated monopoly, to provide power," Court said. "Why do we need them if they do not keep the light on?"
The California Public Utilities Commission has indicated that it regularly conducts reviews after utilities cut off electricity from customers and would consider the factors that led to the decision by Pacific Gas and Electric.
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