Company Under Fire for Poor Management of Power Outage

HEIDI LI Staff Writer

According to the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) utility company, residents in 16 California counties have been warned that there will be more intentional power shutoffs. With the low humidity, high temperatures and strong winds, the National Weather Service issue red flag warnings and fire weather watches. The utility company has cut power to nearly

800,000 customers across Northern and Central California for several days already. 

However, many residents claim they are not frustrated with the power outages but with PG&E. The utility company has been subject to scrutiny for its lack of planning in shutting off power. Its website crashed several times, outage maps were inaccurate and call centers were overloaded.

 “The frustration from the residents is completely understandable,” senior Wendy Yang said, “The company should have planned the power outages ahead of time and reported the accurate maps for residents.” 

Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the company and called for rebates of $100 for customers and small businesses. He stated that Californians should not pay the price for the company’s greed and neglect. 

PG&E CEO Bill Johnson has acknowledged that the event could have been handled better, but defended the company’s decision to shut off power.