PG&E CEO promises change at SF hearing on December mass power outage
PG&E CEO testifies, answers questions at mass outage hearing
The CEO of PG&E said the utility company appeared at a San Francisco Board of Supervisors hearing Thursday, and said the company is working to address problems with communication, crisis response, and infrastructure that emerged during the December mass power outage that impacted some 137,000 customers.
SAN FRANCISCO -
Pacific Gas & Electric officials faced criticism and answered questions about the mass power outage in December that wiped out power to about 137,000 customers or one third of the city of San Francisco.
The CEO of the power utility, Sumeet Singh, said the company has an independent team investigating what caused the fire at a substation on December 20th that led to outages that lasted up to three days for some customers. Singh said they have invited a city representative to observe the testing for transparency, and expect a report on the cause of the fire in March.
Concerns over PG&E's response
Dozens of people lined up for public comment. Business owners told San Francisco supervisors that they're still feeling the financial pain, despite PG&E's initial $2,500 credit on customers' bills.
"The disruptions did not end when the lights came back on. It continues through the claim process. The $2,500 is appreciated... but it is not enough for businesses that were down for multiple days," Daniel Ramirez, a Sunset Business District spokesperson and business owner, said. "We had nine employees and we had to send them home. They were not able to earn their full paycheck that week."
Some business owners say PG&E's eight-page claim process is too complicated for small businesses that don't have accounting departments and often speak a language other than English.
"Those eight-pages guidelines are not only difficult. This is a road block for small businesses to start filing claims," Sean Kim, owner of Joe's Ice Cream on Geary Boulevard, said.
Supervisors Alan Wong, Matt Dorsey, and Bilal Mahmood questioned Singh and Vincent Davis, senior vice president of customer experience at PG&E, about why it took two hours to alert the city's emergency management department after the fire at a substation broke out around 1:17 p.m.
Problems to address
"What felt to me that was concerning was that within PG&E was problems communicating within the organization," Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management.
The San Francisco Fire Department's Deputy Chief of Operations Pat Rabbitt also said PG&E needs to update substation building plans to modern digital platforms. Rabbitt said the company only had paper maps which were difficult to share and read in the rain.
PG&E said they are working on those issues, as well as working to do more joint training with the city, change notification protocols, and identify community relief centers in advance.
"We're holding ourselves accountable for the shortfalls that happened in terms of customer and elected officials' engagement, and with the emergency management team...I appreciated the questions," Singh said.
What's next:
Supervisors Wong and Mahmood said they plan to hold another hearing in March about the substation fire investigation and hold PG&E accountable for any follow-up actions to address the list of problems.
"This is the third time now, that something has failed at this substation, despite hundreds of millions of dollars according to them in investment. We want to really understand what caused this breaker to fail this time despite the supposed investments," Mahmood said.
PG&E said Thursday they did send four bilingual teams to do a merchant walk in the Richmond District, and spoke with 250 customers about any concerns and how to file claims.
Featured
Major Sierra snow storm: Here's when not to be on the road
The Bay Area made it through a first round of mini-storms this week, and residents should prepare for another, bigger one starting over the long President's Day weekend.