PGE warns customers of possible public safety shut-offs over high-temp weekend - KOIN.com
PGE warns customers of possible public safety shut offs over high temperature weekend
PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN) – With the increasing fire and heat risk this weekend, Portland General Electric told customers to prepare for the possibility that the company will have to shut off power lines.
As of Friday afternoon, there are no public safety power shut-offs planned for this weekend — PGE says they would give a two-day notice if they intend to do so. These shut-offs can last from a few hours to several days.
PGE emailed its tens of thousands of customers a letter yesterday asking them to prepare just in case of a summer power outage, which would mean no electric power to appliances, from air conditioners to refrigerators, no lights, electric pumps for well water would stop working.
The company did initiate what’s called a public service power shutoff in September 2022, in a lot of areas, such as the Portland West Hills, Oregon City and Estacada, along with puting a lot of areas on notice they could be shut off.
“If you have a combination of extremely low humidity, high sustained gusty winds, really dry fuel – how dry are the trees and the rush and everything else out there. It’s really a combination of factors that would have to come together for PGE to initiate a public safety power shutoff,” said Drew Hanson of PGE.
They have a map on their website that shows what areas are at possible risk for a safety-related power shut-off.
Pacific Power, another electric company, also serves 80,000 in the Metro area and more than 600,000 customers in the state. They have not sent out a letter as of Friday, but do recommend having an emergency plan.
The utilities urge customers to contact them online or by phone to make sure they have updated contact information for notifications about any planned outages. Customers can also update their email and phone numbers via their accounts online.
Stay with KOIN 6 as this story develops.
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