A customer shops for groceries in the dark at La Tapatia Market in Napa, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. Half a million homes and businesses in Northern California lost power and more will soon follow as bankrupt California utility giant PG&E Corp. carries out its biggest-ever intentional blackout to keep power lines from sparking blazes. (Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
California electricity providers Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison have both adopted a strategy of shutting off power through overhead transmission lines in high wind conditions, in an attempt to reduce the number of wildfires sparked by fallen power lines or tree limbs striking live power lines. The California Public Utility Commission allows the investor-owned utility companies broad latitude to take such action at their own discretion.
Recent years have made it abundantly clear that steps needed to be taken to change how we prepare for, mitigate, and fight wildfires in California. In 2018 alone, the state spent more than $1 billion fighting wildfires — and that was just the cost of fighting the fires, not the cost of repairing the damage done. That damage came to more than $9 billion, according to the Sacramento Bee. $10 billion in economic loss from wildfires in a single year, it's hard to wrap one's head around. In an effort to reduce the loss of both lives and property, the major utility companies are turning the power off when the wind blows.
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