According to PG&E, the power outage started off Garcia Road in Atascadero Thursday morning, affecting 1,700 PG&E customers.
PG&E says the outage was caused by the company’s enhanced powerline safety settings.
PG&E’s enhanced powerline safety settings are placed in areas that are affected by higher heat-related threats.
The setting allows PG&E’s power lines to automatically shut off when they experience any interferences.
“What we want our customers to know is first that we know this can be disruptive to their lives and so just know that PG&E is working as fast as we can to restore power as safely as we can,” said Carina Corral, Pacific & Gas Electric Company Communications Representative.
Corral says power outages can affect adjacent areas not impacted by heat-related threats, which could change how rural communities spend their day.
“We got to school, and we found out the power was out almost immediately, so we went to all of our classes until 4th period with no power and no AC. It got really hot,” said Eva Armet, a student from Atascadero High School.
Corral says that their crews patrolled the line where the incident took place looking for hazards before they restored power back to the community, but once their investigation concluded, they were not able to determine the cause of the outage.
“It could be a bird strike, a tree branch, any number of hazards that have struck the line. Sometimes our crews don’t find anything because that hazard search is no longer visible and that was the case today in Atascadero,” said Corral.
Corral says their Enhanced Powerline Line Safety Settings will continue to be in place throughout the coming months but are expected to slowly go offline once winter arrives.
“We’re working every day to keep the lines efficient and keep them safe, but really, it’s in the name. Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings. These settings are in place to keep our customers safe,” Corral said.
Corral says that these power outages are unplanned and there’s no telling how many more outages could occur this season.
A power outage was also affecting part of San Luis Obispo early Thursday. We asked PG&E whether there have been more outages so far this year compared to last year, but they did not get back to us with those numbers.
