California's PG&E Reverts Most Planned Outages as Weather Conditions Improve

California's PG&E on Tuesday night decided not to shut off power to the counties of Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Alameda, as the utility originally said it would. PG&E officials added there no further shutoffs set to take place at this time.

The all-clear weather signal has also been given for the counties of Trinity, Tehama, Shahsta, Plumas, and Butte. Shutoffs are also no longer planned in the areas.

PG&E said the weather forecast reduced the scope of the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) by 30,000 to more than 500,000 clients in the areas of 22 counties.

#PSPS: Due to favorable weather conditions, we will no longer need to turn power off in these counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo. This further reduces scope of Oct. 29 PSPS by 30,000 to approximately 510,000 customers in portions of 22 counties. pic.twitter.com/UC8Y5Knx9f — PG&E (@PGE4Me) October 30, 2019

The electric and gas company did announce they would give a bill credit to customers affected by the outages. The utility's president and CEO Bill Johnson said in a statement that the company "carefully considered" Governor Gavin Newson's request to provide reimbursement for the clients.

"We have agreed to move forward with a one-time bill credit for customers [affected] by that event [October 9 PSPS]," he said.

Governor Newsom on Tuesday, declared PG&E would be offering rebates to customers impacted by the outages. Newsom highlighted the significance of the PG&E's move as utilities had never reimbursed their clients for the power disruptions.

Anger, frustration among clients continue to mount

Most customers across the Bay Area remained in the dark after a massive planned interruption this past weekend. However, the cancelation of Tuesday's PSPS does not affect those customers. The frustration among clients who have lost electricity continues to increase.

Chris Sherman, who is at a shelter in Santa Rosa, plugged his laptop to a wall outlet and charged his phone while waiting for the go signal to return to their residences.

According to NBC Bay Area's report, Sherman said of PG&E that the company "don't seem to know what they are doing." He added that he's uncertain if "[the power utility] is protecting anything."

People from Lafayette, where many residents lost electricity on Saturday, criticized PG&E for ineffectively communicating the PSPS to the people.

Kelly Bitzer, who came to a supermarket searching for an outlet to charge her phone, expressed her frustration in a report from NBC Bay Area that PG&E "has spent millions of dollars [releasing] bonuses to [the company's] executives but [failed] to keep up with the infrastructure needs."

The California Public Utilities Commission proposes to investigate the electricity interruptions, which may result in fines against PG&E if the utility is found to violate any rules and regulations.

PUC added they plan to review the governing rules on power interruptions to prevent utilities from charging the clients when the power is down and would ask experts to search for grid improvements that would minimize shutoffs next fire season.

The commission said they plan to review the rules regarding blackouts, will look into preventing utilities from charging customers when there is a power interruption, as well as convene experts to come up with  improvements that might lessen shut-offs next fire season.

PUC President Marybel Batjer said "California must not continue experiencing such widespread blackouts, nor should Californians be subject to the poor [service] that PG&E, [particularly], has [manifested]."

The electric utility added gustily, dry winds were expected for Tuesday and Wednesday. The weather was supposed to affect the clients in eight out of nine Bay Area counties.

For those who remain without power, NBC Bay Area posted on Facebook a list of food safety tips.