Community learns more about Public Safety Power Shutoff program during public meeting

The Public Safety Power Shutoff is considered a new program to the area.

“It’s mandated by the state or the public utilities commission which regulates the investor owned utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison,” said Joan Hartmann, Third District County supervisor.

During the forum, representatives explained how shutting down power during critical fire weather will lower the risk of wild fires.

“And people need to be aware of this because the power could be off for quite some time,” Hartmann said.

But in order to be prepared for a power shutdown, representative Eric Daniels of PG & E said it’s important for people to understand who their service provider is.

“If their service provider is Southern California Edison or if it’s PG & E. Here in Santa Barbara County you have the two different providers. So understand who your provider is, and then listen for whether there is a PSPS being called for that particular company,” Daniels said.

This forum comes a day before Southern California Edison announced it’s considering a power shutoff in the unincorporated area of Santa Barbara County from Gaviota to Point Conception.

Edison’s officials said the outage, if it does happen, could effect about 240 people
Amy Derryberry is glad she attended tonight’s meeting, but is still uneasy about the thought of experiencing a power shutdown.

“I do feel reassured, although I hope all this will come to pass. I think it’s going to be hard thing to fully prepare for without having gone through
the experience of preparing and knowing what to do,” Derryberry said.

“No matter if it’s just a regular PSPS or it’s a regular run-of-the-mill outage, we want you to be ready as best as possible,” Daniels said.

For information on how to prepare for a power shutdown, log on to: http://www.readysbc.org