Wednesday power shutoff to impact 35,000 East Bay customers

More than 35,000 PG&E customers in the East Bay will be affected by this week’s Public Safety Power Shutoff, according to a statement issued by the utility late Monday morning.

Starting Wednesday morning and persisting until at least Thursday morning, depending on weather conditions, roughly 12,200 utility customers in the Alameda County cities of Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro will go dark.

In Contra Costa County, the outage will impact 23,230 customers in Canyon, El Sobrante, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Pinole, Pleasant Hill and Richmond.

There will be more roughly 1,070 medical baseline customers impacted between the two counties.

Anyone who depends upon electricity for medical reasons is urged to consider riding out the outage at the home of a friend or relative who will not be affected.

Everyone is advised to keep their mobile devices fully charged and identify backup options for charging up, and to remember to stock up on prescription medication, non-perishable food items, water and fuel since gas stations and stores will likely be closed.

During the outage, people should keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed to prevent perishable items from getting too warm.

For more information, including a list of local Community Resource Centers where members of the public can access electricity, snacks and clean water, people can go to PG&E’s PSPS website at https://bit.ly/2qgAIoG.