Extra

PG&E restores power to 45,000 in East Bay

Dave Brooksher (BCN)
Monday June 08, 2015 - 10:30:00 PM

As of 10:30 p.m. electrical service has been restored to roughly 45,000 PG&E customers in the East Bay who experienced a blackout caused by a squirrel earlier this evening, according to a PG&E spokesman. 

They lost power around 8:03 p.m. in the cities of Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Kensington, Oakland, Richmond and San Pablo, according to PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi. 

"Looks like it was caused by a squirrel at a substation in El Cerrito," Guidi said. 

Earlier this evening around 5:30 p.m. roughly 12,000 customers in San Jose and Gilroy lost power due to heat-related equipment failure. As of roughly 10 p.m., there were 3,500 customers still without power, Guidi said. 

Another heat-related power outage affected customers in the East Bay, with an estimated 6,000 customers losing their electrical service. Roughly 840 of them are still waiting to have their power turned on, according to Guidi. 

"We had various equipment failures related to heat," Guidi said, explaining that transformers had overloaded due to high temperatures and heavy use. 

Customers affected by heat-related power outages may not see their service restored until morning, Guidi said.  

"We do expect some of these customers to be out into the morning hours, as we do have numerous repairs and replacements to make throughout the evening," Guidi said. 

PG&E has mobilized work crews from some of the less impacted areas to help restore power for customers in the East Bay and South Bay.