Winter Storms

It's always best to be prepared for whatever the rainy season might bring your way. Here you'll find useful information on customer safety and preparing for power outages.

Watch: How outages occur in stormy weather

During an Outage
Preparing for Power Outages
Report a Power Outage: 1 (800) 743-5002
Power Restoration Priorities

Customer Safety—911 for Downed Lines

Your safety is our first concern. If you see a downed power line, assume it is energized and keep yourself and others away. Call 911 immediately to report the location of the downed line then
1 (800) 743-5002, PG&E's 24-Hour Emergency and Customer Service Line. During and after a storm, please keep away from flooded areas and downed trees, as these areas could be hiding an energized power line.

During an Outage

When the power is out, unplug or turn off all electric appliances to avoid overloading circuits and fire hazards when power is restored. Simply leave a single lamp on to alert you when power returns. Turn your appliances back on one at a time when conditions return to normal.
If you have a standby generator, make sure that it's installed safely and inform PG&E to avoid risking damage to your property and endangering PG&E line workers who may be working on nearby power lines.
Avoid the risk of fire by not using candles. If you must use candles, keep them away from drapes, lampshades and small children. Do not leave candles unattended.

Preparing for Power Outages

Have battery-operated flashlights and radios with fresh batteries ready. Listen for updates on storm conditions and power outages.
If you have a telephone system that requires electricity to work (such as a cordless phone or answering machine), plan for alternate communication - have a standard telephone handset, cellular telephone or pager ready as a back up.
Freeze plastic containers filled with water to make blocks of ice that can be placed in your refrigerator/freezer during an outage to prevent foods from spoiling.

Report a Power Outage: 1 (800) 743-5002

Before calling PG&E about a power outage, check to see if other neighbors are affected. This would confirm if an outage has occurred in just your residence or within the neighborhood area.
If only your residence is without power, check circuit breakers and/or fuse boxes to see if the problem is limited to the home electric system.
After performing the steps above, single or neighborhood outages can be reported to: PG&E's 24-Hour Emergency and Customer Service Line: 1 (800) 743-5002

Our phone lines may become very busy during major storms, so we ask for your patience if you are trying to reach us.

Outage Updates: 1 (800) 743-5002

Once your outage has been reported, you can call PG&E's Outage Information Line at 1 (800) 743-5002 to get a status report on your outage and the anticipated time your power will be turned back on.
If you lose power overnight, you can call PG&E to request a wake-up call. We'll be happy to give you a wake-up call, as well as up-to-date information on your outage and time of restoration.

Power Restoration Priorities

Priorities are not established by where your home is located geographically, your payment history or how often you call. Our crews receive their instruction based upon repairs that will restore power to the most customers first and customers who have been without power the longest.

If you see power restored across the street or nearby and you remain without power along with other neighbors, remember that not all circuits are restored at once. Different parts of a neighborhood may be on different circuits.

7 Steps to Restore Power

Protect public safety. Our top priority is to clear downed power lines and ensure that facilities such as hospitals, fire and police departments, and public utilities have power.
Check generation facilities. We make sure the original power source-the power plant- is operating.
# Repair transmission lines. These keep our hundreds of substations energized.
Repair substations. The substations convert high-voltage power for home use. Even if you have underground service, you can still lose power when substations and transmission lines are down.
Repair distribution lines. These main power lines connect substations to neighborhoods and serve 1,000 to 3,000 customers.
Repair tap lines. These lines feed into pockets of 20 to 300 homes.
Connect individual customers whose power is out. This is the most difficult and time-consuming step, but before we can connect individual homes, we must complete the previous steps.

Additional Info