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.
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.
