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Power Outages

To measure PG&E's performance, we need to log all power outages--even short ones. Please make a Power Outage Report.

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Lighting Up Burlingame

Blackouts used to be a common occurence for many Burlingame citizens and businesses. Power outages started increasing in frequency during 2002 and became intolerable during the winter of 2002-03, when thousands of households experienced blackouts for one to four days.

Residents suffered major hardships due to power failures. Homes were flooded when sump pumps failed and people with electrically powered medical equipment faced serious health hazards. But Burlingame residents got nowhere when they complained to Pacific Gas & Electric and City Hall.

So local resident Terry Nagel formed a group of concerned citizens called Burlingamers Unwilling to Live with Blackouts (BULB). As a result of BULB’s regular meetings with Pacific Gas & Electric, power service has improved dramatically in Burlingame. PG&E has:

• Spent more than $2.4 million upgrading circuits in Burlingame
• Dividedthe problematic San Mateo 2102 circuit that stretched up the eastern side of Highway 101 and across the north end of Burlingame into two circuits, which greatly reduced outages
• Undergrounded a problematic circuit at the Mills/Adeline/El Camino intersection
• Put its claim form for damages on the homepage of its Web site
• Reported annually to BULB and the city on improvements to Burlingame
• Made positive changes to tree-trimming and customer service programs

Terry found that the key to getting PG&E’s attention was getting large numbers of citizens to turn out at meetings. More than 200 people attended a Town Hall Meeting that Terry arranged with representatives of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on December 16, 2002. At BULB’s urging, residents and businesses filed more than 250 written complaints with the CPUC.

Although PG&E was invited to that meeting, no PG&E representatives bothered to attend. Their absence angered then-CPUC Commissioner Carl Wood, who did attend, and he vowed to take action.

When Terry arranged another Town Hall Meeting on January 16, 2003, more than 250 citizens attended and this time PG&E representatives did show up. They promised to improve service to Burlingame, and they were true to that promise.

Terry continues to advocate for better ways of measuring power reliability. She urges citizens to log all power outages (after power is restored) by filling out a Power Outage Form on her Web site. She reviews this data with PG&E to make sure areas that have recurring problems get better service. She has suggested that PG&E and the CPUC make it possible for citizens to report power outages on their Web sites. She also favors standardizing the metrics that power companies use to report power reliability, so that consumers can see how their power company’s performance compares with others. It is impossible to compare performance at the present time, since every power company uses different metrics. Reliability performance is used to justify rate increases and bonuses for power company executives.

If you need assistance with a PG&E problem, please contact Terry.