PG&E warns up to 70,000 customers face a second PSPS event within a week as offshore winds return to Northern California

Pacific Gas and Electric warned on 13 October 2026 that up to 70,000 customers across 29 counties in Northern and Central California could lose power beginning the evening of 15 October, as a fresh offshore wind event follows immediately on the heels of a shutoff that ended only days earlier^[1]. The potential Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) is forecast to run through Saturday, 18 October.

Back-to-back events in the same week

The new warning comes less than 48 hours after PG&E issued an all-clear for a prior PSPS that began 9 October. That earlier event saw the utility de-energise lines serving approximately 10,400 customers in Colusa, Glenn, Shasta, Tehama and Yolo counties on 11 October, after the potential scope had reached 12,200 customers across 17 counties. All customers from that event were restored by the evening of 13 October.

The incoming event has already grown substantially in scope. PG&E's initial two-day-ahead notification on 13 October covered roughly 30,000 customers in 22 counties; by 14 October the figure had more than doubled to 70,000 across 29 counties, including nearly 4,000 Medical Baseline customers and five tribal governments.

Counties with the largest customer counts in the current scope include:

• Butte: more than 8,300 customers
• San Luis Obispo: approximately 7,700 customers
• Placer: approximately 9,000 customers
• Calaveras: approximately 8,500 customers
• El Dorado: approximately 7,000 customers

About 4,000 customers who lost power in the prior event could be shut off again.

Weather and grid conditions

CAISO issued Restricted Maintenance Operations on 5, 6, 7 and 8 October, urging suppliers to protect generation and transmission availability during the preceding heat wave^[1]. System demand peaked at around 46,000 MW on 5 October, according to CAISO data^[1]. Despite six alerts - two for Southern California and four system-wide - the ISO recorded no Flex Alerts, Energy Emergency Alerts or transmission emergencies during the period^[1].

PG&E meteorologists warned that moisture levels in dead ground cover are approaching historic lows in some areas, with vegetation dry enough to ignite easily. Winds are expected to peak Thursday across Northern California and Friday farther south before easing Saturday.

The undergrounding gap

The recurring shutoffs expose the distance between PG&E's long-term hardening programme and current conditions. As of September 2026, the utility had completed and energised more than 1,370 miles of underground powerlines since the programme launched in 2021, with a plan to reach 1,900 miles by end of 2027. On 1 October 2026, PG&E filed a revised 10-year plan with the California Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety proposing to underground a further 5,000 miles of distribution lines from 2028 to 2037, down from an original 10,000-mile goal. The utility says the revised scope would still reduce ignition risk by nearly 98% and cut outages by approximately 90% on affected lines, while delivering long-term benefits valued at $117 billion.

Until those lines are buried, above-ground distribution circuits in high fire-threat districts remain the primary lever for managing ignition risk during wind events - and PSPS remains the bluntest tool available.

The key variable to watch is whether the scope continues to expand as meteorologists refine their forecasts through 15 October, and whether CAISO issues any operational notices as the wind event coincides with the tail end of the autumn heat pattern across the Western grid.