PG&E Restores Nearly All Electric Customers, Gains Access to Additional 6,000 Homes and Businesses as it Continues Restoration Efforts in Wildfire Zones

After more than a week of around-the-clock restoration work, Pacific Gas
and Electric Company (PG&E) said today that it restored electric power
to 97 percent of customers who can receive it. Late today, the company
also reported it was granted access by CAL FIRE to an additional 6,000
homes and businesses, reducing the number of customers the company
cannot access to about 400. The company expects to restore service to
these 6,000 additional customers within the next 24 to 48 hours and get
access through CAL FIRE for the remaining 400. PG&E also said it expects
to restore gas service to all remaining customers who can receive it by
Wednesday evening.

More than 4,300 PG&E employees and mutual-aid partners have worked since
October 9 to safely restore service to customers. PG&E has worked
closely with CAL FIRE, other agencies and first responders to be able to
make the necessary repairs as soon as safe access to fire zones was
assured.

PG&E crews will remain active in Sonoma and Napa Counties as they make
the necessary permanent repairs to the company’s gas and electric
systems.

Through Wednesday, PG&E gas service representatives and those from other
Western utilities will continue restoring service to the remaining
11,000 customers who do not presently have gas service, but are in a
position to accept gas service. This process involves working with the
individual customers to relight their pilot lights. Restoration begins
once infrastructure is repaired, and areas have been deemed safe by
relevant authorities.

In all, as a result of the firestorm, more than 359,000 customers lost
electric service and more than 42,000 gas customers had their gas
service turned off. We took this action with safety first in mind to
protect our customers and our communities.

As restoration efforts continue around the clock, PG&E is maintaining an
absolute focus on customer and public safety and supporting firefighting
efforts on these intense wind-fueled wildfires.

Electric Progress

Since Monday, October 9, PG&E has restored power to nearly 97 percent of
customers who were impacted by the fires. As of late Tuesday, there were
about 10,500 electric customers without power in the fire-impacted areas.

Gas Progress

Since Monday, October 9, to protect customer and public safety, PG&E
proactively turned off gas service to about 42,000 customers in the
affected areas of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Nearly 900
workers, from PG&E and other energy companies, have been working to
relight pilot lights in areas where it’s safe to do so. There are 11,000
gas customers remaining without service in the fire-impacted areas.

Restoring gas service is a complex process, but progress is being made.
Several factors are in play including PG&E’s access to fire zones,
authorization from the proper authorities to restore gas, and the timing
of when customers are allowed to return to their homes. Customers are
reminded to call PG&E at 1-800-743-5000 if they have questions about
their gas service or need to have their pilot light relit. Customers
should not relight the pilot light themselves.

Electric Restoration Process

• Once crews have been given permission to enter an area by CAL FIRE,
  PG&E crews begin the electric assess, repair and restoration process.
• Once safe, the first step is damage assessment. Typically, this occurs
  within 12 to 24 hours.
• PG&E workers will be on site to make the area safe by isolating
  electrical hazards. The next steps are equipment repairs and
  coordinated restoration.
• Based on needed repairs and time to compete work, an estimated time
  for restoration is established and communicated to customers.
• Prior to safely re-energizing homes and businesses, PG&E will inspect
  adjacent facilities and ensure locations are safety to receive power.
• Where safe to do so and access is allowed, restoring service will
  typically take 24-48 hours depending on the extent of damage and
  complexity of the work.
• Repopulation decisions to areas or neighborhoods are made by local law
  enforcement.

Gas Restoration Process

• Once crews have been given permission to enter an area by CAL FIRE,
  PG&E crews begin the gas restoration process.
• Once PG&E gains access to homes and businesses, gas crews check the
  meter. Then, PG&E works to identify structures that are safe to
  restore service and those that have sustained too much damage to
  safely restore service. Assessments begin immediately and typically
  occur within 24 hours of gaining access.
• Because gas service was turned off to customers, any air present in
  the pipeline system is purged to ensure that natural gas is safely
  delivered to every structure.
• Next, the system must be resupplied with gas and pressure tested to
  make sure it is safe.
• PG&E gas workers visit every home or business where gas may
  be safely restored to turn the meter on, purge the pipe within the
  structure, check for leaks and ensure every pilot light is relit for
  safe operation.
• Repopulation decisions to areas or neighborhoods are made by local law
  enforcement.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San
Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of
the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and
Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/
and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.

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