(The Center Square) – Power was taken offline across much of rural Northern and Central California on Election Day due to high levels of wind; Pacific Gas and Electric’s transmission towers are an average of 68 years old, with some over a century old.
While rural coastal areas tend to favor Democrats, rural inland areas favor Republicans. Democrats historically have benefited more from Election Day turnout of low-propensity voters, but that since the start of the Trump era that advantage — or disadvantage — has now shifted to Republicains. This means poor Election Day conditions could have a greater negative impact on Republicans than Democrats.
Because every registered voter in California is sent a vote-by-mail ballot, affected individuals can still make sure their votes are counted so long as they were dropped off at a ballot location by 8:00 PM Pacific Tuesday.
While some polling stations are in areas that could be affected by shutoffs, those shutoffs are not scheduled until after 8:00 PM, meaning voting should be unaffected, and the one polling station that could be affected has a backup generator in place. The planned shutoffs will affect approximately 15,000 customers, mostly in rural areas.
PGE generates approximately 10% of its power from wind energy, which means that transmission line shutdowns to avoid fire risk also occur when its wind power output is highest.
After a fire sparked by a PGE power line from 1921 killed 85 people and caused $16.5 billion in damage, PGE committed to undergrounding 10,000 miles of its power lines.
In the meantime, Public Safety Power Shutoffs allow PGE to shut down power in areas where equipment could lead to wildfires.
PGE has passed some of the highest rate increases in the nation, with hikes of 63% between January 2021 through January 2024. The company aims to spend $62 billion on capital projects, including $9.1 billion on transmission projects, through 2028.
For accurate, up to date information on power outages, please visit the Pacific Gas and Electric Outage Center website.
