Contra Costa County prepares for a confirmed PG&E power shutoff event, Wed. Oct. 9 at noon

UPDATE: PG&E has delayed the Public Safetly Power Shutoff in Contra Costa County until an expected start time of 8 p.m. Wed. night. The shutoff is expected to last through noon on Thurs. PG&E estimates that 51,000 customers will be affected in the county.

Contra Costa County is preparing to respond to the impacts of a confirmed PG&E power shutoff event that will affect parts of the County. PG&E’s Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) is expected to start around 12 noon on Wednesday, October 9, through Thursday, October 10, at 12:00 pm. According to PG&E, complete power restoration may take one to five days.

PG&E estimates that 51,000 customers in Contra Costa County could lose power. We expect the shutoff to impact over 120,000 residents of the County. The PG&E power shutoff event will affect large areas of the County, including Bay Point, Canyon, El Sobrante, Kensington, Lafayette, Moraga, North Concord, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Pinole, Pittsburg, Richmond, San Ramon and Walnut Creek. PG&E notice: Rossmoor and Danville will NOT be impacted by the PSPS. PG&E expects to start restoring power on Thursday, October 10 with complete restoration possibly taking several days.

Contra Costa County is working to ensure that the public is aware of this PG&E power shutoff event.  The County’s Emergency Operation Center is now at a Level 2 partial activation.  Contra Costa County will be in business on Wednesday and Thursday. The Bay Point Health Center will be closed during the power shutoff.  Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) is contacting patients to reschedule appointments. Patients can also call the CCHS appointment line at 1 (800) 495-8885. Contra Costa Regional Medical and all other county health centers are not expected to be impacted by the outage. CCHS will continue to provide services during the outage.

PG&E Community Resource Center

2600 Camino Ramon, San Ramon

County Charging Stations (for mobile phones):

The County Employment & Human Services Department is setting up charging stations for community members during the PG&E power shutoff. These charging stations are available in the lobbies of the following locations starting Wednesday, October 9, from 8 am to 5 pm:

• 4545 Delta Fair Blvd., Antioch
• 151 Linus Pauling, Hercules
• 400 Ellinwood Way, Pleasant Hill
• 1305 Macdonald, Richmond

There are no scheduled public school closures in Contra Costa County for Wednesday, October 9.  For updates on school closures, go to www.cocoschools.org.

Go to Contra Costa County’s website at www.contracosta.ca.gov for updates, a PG&E map of impacted areas, and ways to prepare before, during and after a power outage. Check www.pge.com to register for wildfire alerts and for customer updates.