The new plan may inconvenience thousands of citizens
The regulators at California announced that they have approved for the utilities to cut off the electricity to help avoid a repeat of the catastrophic fire from last year at Paradise, which killed 85 people and destroyed the greater part of the city of paradise, the fire was sparked by power lines.
The announcement was made on Thursday and is set to affect thousands of customers who are clearly calling for a safety measure that does not inconvenience them to such a great extent.
Utilities’ liabilities were skyrocketing and would potentially reach billions of dollars, the realization of this hitting them after several devastating wildfires that have plagued the state.
The utilities approached the regulators with their request to cut the electricity supply when there is a very high risk of fire to break out.
This would be mainly during times of excessive winds and low humidity which makes it very favorable for a fire to start as in these conditions, vegetation is dried out and can easily ignite.
The California Public Utilities Commission did grant this permission to the regulators but not without a prerequisite.
As they advised the utilities to put in better efforts to notify the public well in advance, with special importance given to those with disabilities and others who are vulnerable.
They have also ordered them to ramp up the preventive efforts such as clearing brush and installing fire-resistant poles.
The problem they face now is how to tackle the problem of the people out there who depend on the appliances and machines running on electricity like those who need refrigerated medicines and machines that help them breathe at night and other such machines.
The California government and municipal corporations have a lot to work around and not a lot of time.