ATASCADERO — Power has returned for the over 1,700 residents who experienced a power outage in Atascadero this morning, August 31. Originally, the 1,772 PG&E customers were not expected to have power again until 5:30 p.m. this evening. However, power was returned around 11 a.m. this morning. 

PG&E Communications Representative Carina Corral told Atascadero News, “This outage was activated by our Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS). These settings allow our powerlines to automatically turn off power within one-tenth of a second when there is a hazard, like a tree branch falling into a powerline.”

Corral further explained the EPSS settings are in place at high fire risk areas and some adjacent regions. According to her, in 2022, there was a 68 percent reduction in ignitions on EPSS enabled powerlines. For fires that did start, she says there was a 99 percent decrease in acres impacted. 

An update from Corral told Atascadero News that PG&E crews were unable to find the cause for the outage.

“PG&E crews patrolled the line, looking for any hazards and making sure it’s safe to re-energize to restore power to all customers. In this case, they were not able to determine the cause of the outage. Sometimes these hazards, like animals or branches, are no longer visible when our crews patrol to restore power,” said Corral.

To keep up with PG&E planned and unplanned outages, visit pgealerts.alerts.pge.com/outagecenter/