Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Monday that a few thousand customers in the utility's Sierra Nevada region had power restored over the weekend, but that roughly 25,000 homes and businesses across the Northern California mountains and foothills remain in outages caused by last week's severe winter storm.
That puts PG&E slightly ahead of estimates it gave last week, but it still means tens of thousands of residents and business owners across parts of El Dorado, Placer and Nevada counties have now been without electricity for about a week.
PG&E executives during a Friday news conference said the record-breaking snowfall caused extensive damage to its equipment and also hindered repair crews' access for days.
Officials on Friday said about 36,000 customers were without power in the utility's North Valley and Sierra Region and projected that only about 30% of those would be restored by this Wednesday, which would mean about 25,000 would still be without power by midweek.
Spokeswoman Megan McFarland wrote in an emailed statement Monday morning that PG&E is "down to about 25,000 customers without power in the Sierra Division, mainly Placer, Nevada and El Dorado Counties," putting the company about two days ahead of its earlier estimate.
McFarland wrote that PG&E has restored power to more than 4,000 customers since Saturday, with more than 2,000 personnel assigned to the effort and "100+ mutual aid crews coming in."
Many residents currently without power, from Nevada City and Grass Valley to Camino and Pollock Pines, lost power beginning on Dec. 26 and are now relying on generators or other means for heat, cooking and light.
Some PG&E customers in the Pollock Pines area told The Sacramento Bee they received text alerts giving estimates of Jan. 7, Jan. 10 or later for restoration.
El Dorado County officials said PG&E on Saturday and Sunday distributed "go bags" with "a blanket, battery charger, snacks and water" from Marshall Grange Hall in Garden Valley. The county has also opened the Placerville Library as a warming shelter several days in the past week amid frigid temperatures.
In Nevada County, First Baptist Church in Grass Valley opened Sunday evening as an overnight shelter. Nevada County as of Sunday morning had 13,000 customers without power, according to an incident webpage the county has set up for storm response.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday declared a state of emergency for 20 counties in response to the winter storms: Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Humboldt, Lake, Los Angeles, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Sierra, and Yuba.
