UPDATE (5:49 p.m.) - Power is fully restored to all PG&E customers impacted by an outage Wednesday in northern San Luis Obispo County.
A PG&E representative says the outage, initially thought to b caused by a car/pole incident, was activated by the utility’s Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS).
“To help keep customers and communities safe in the face of growing wildfire risk, PG&E has installed a new technology on lines in high fire threat areas called EPSS. These settings are activated to turn power off immediately when the system detects a danger, such as a fallen tree, a broken-off branch flying with the wind, an animal or bird strike, or some other such foreign object making contact with the powerlines (such as a car/pole incident). When activated, the EPSS technology de-energizes the line within one-tenth of a second to protect the community from potential wildfire starts. This measure is a proven wildfire prevention tool,” the representative said in an email to KSBY.
Wednesday’s outage began around 7 a.m., initially impacting more than 7,000 customers.
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UPDATE (12:42 p.m.) - PG&E says power has been restored to some but 2,800 customers are still without power.
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ORIGINAL STORY: More than 7,000 PG&E customers were without power in a portion of Northern San Luis Obispo County Wednesday.
The outage began around 7 a.m. and was impacting customers mainly to the west of Highway 101 between Templeton and Santa Margarita.
PG&E said it appeared the outage was due to a crash or incident involving an electric pole, which enabled the EPSS circuit and turned power off to the area to reduce the risk of fire.
Restoration is expected by 4:15 p.m.
