LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), who controls natural gas and electricity service in Northern and Central California, announced Wednesday morning that it will turn off power supply in 17 counties of the state as a precaution to possible breakout of wildfires.
In a statement issued by the company, the shutoff, scheduled to begin Wednesday noon and run into Thursday, is expected to affect about 184,000 customers in portions of 17 counties in the Sierra Foothills and the North Bay areas.
"The potential safety shutoff is planned for varying start times depending on location," the statement read, during the shutoff period the company's crews, equipment, vehicles and aircraft are "on standby to conduct the shutoffs and subsequent inspections, repairs and power restoration."
The company said that this Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) is to prevent a catastrophic wildfire sparked by electrical equipment during extreme dry, hot and windy weather events.
Wednesday's shutoff is the second round of mass electricity blackouts that Californian residents have to face this month, and it could be a new normal as the company said these outages could be the reality for the next 10 years.
Governor of the Golden State Gavin Newsom said that won't work.
"Ten years of this cannot happen. Will not happen. We are going to aggressively make sure of that and we are still waiting for that rebate that is owed to millions of people in this state," Newsom said at a press conference Tuesday.
The governor also sent a letter to the head of PG&E Tuesday afternoon, in which he slammed the last, huge blackout two weeks ago, and demanded that the company make improvements or reimburse customers at rate of 100 U.S. dollars for homes, 250 dollars for small businesses.
