Jan. 21, 2010
PGE crews head to California to help PG&E restore power to thousands of customers
Check out the video of PGE crews hitting the road.
PORTLAND, Ore — More than 50 Portland General Electric employees headed south January 20 to assist Pacific Gas & Electric with outage restoration as a powerful storm hit California on Sunday. Heavy winds, rain, flooding and mudslides have caused more than 250,000 PG&E customers to lose power since Jan. 17.
As part of the company’s participation a mutual-aid agreement with West Coast utilities, PGE is sending four crews and a portion of our fleet to help restore power to residents in northern California.
“They’ve helped us before, most recently in the big storm of 2008,” said Bill Nicholson, vice president of distribution. “We’re glad to return the favor this year.”
Ten four-man PGE crews (representing Gresham, Hillsboro and Salem, Ore., line centers), three general foremen, two mechanics, a safety coordinator and several support personnel gathered at Salem Line Wednesday morning at 5:30 a.m. for a briefing from Nicholson. Crews then loaded into the 30 PGE vehicles that will convoy down Interstate 5 destined for Chico.
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About PGE
PGE, headquartered in Portland, is a fully integrated electric utility that serves more than 818,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Oregon.
For more information, contact:
Elaina Medina, PGE,
503-464-8790