Large Power Outages Leaves More Than 10,000 PG&E Customers in the Eel River Valley Without Electricity

A widespread power outage knocked out electricity to large portions of the Eel River Valley early Thursday afternoon, leaving more than 10,000 PG&E customers without service.

According to PG&E’s outage map, the outages began at approximately 1:37 p.m. on June 25.

Screenshot of PG&E’s outage map.

Supervisor Michelle Bushnell posted on Facebook that the cause appears to be bird intrusion at the Eel River substation. “They are inspecting now,” she stated.

The utility is reporting three major outages affecting a combined 10,472 customers:

• 7,361 customers are without power, with no estimated restoration time available.
• 1,626 customers are without power, with no estimated restoration time available.
• 1,485 customers are without power, with an estimated restoration time of 11:45 p.m. Thursday.

PG&E says the outages are unplanned and that crews are currently evaluating the electrical system to identify damaged equipment before repairs can begin.

“Our team is evaluating the electrical system to identify damaged sections and make necessary repairs in order to safely turn the power back on,” the utility states on its outage page.

The cause of the outage has not yet been announced.

The outage appears to affect much of the Eel River Valley, though PG&E has not released a detailed list of impacted communities.