PG&E agrees to credit customers for blackouts, Gov. Newsom says

Mill Valley Market, Downtown Mill Valley, opens early to provide service to Mill Valley residents. One of the very limited places to purchase ice. Mill Valley Market, Downtown Mill Valley, opens early to provide service to Mill Valley residents. One of the very limited places to purchase ice. Photo: Blair Heagerty / SFGate Buy photo Photo: Blair Heagerty / SFGate Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close PG&E agrees to credit customers for blackouts, Gov. Newsom says 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

LATEST, Oct. 30, 7:40 a.m.: PG&E cancels some power shutoffs

Pacific Gas and Electric announced early Wednesday it has canceled deliberate power shutoffs for customers in Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties that had been scheduled to start Tuesday.

This reduces the total scope of the outage to about 510,000 customers — down from 540,000 — in portions of 22 counties.

The National Weather Service canceled a Wind Advisory as the gusty conditions below 2,500 feet have calmed. However, a Red Flag Warning, signaling critical fire weather, still remains in effect.

Oct. 29, 6:30 p.m.: PG&E hopes to make more progress in restoring electricity to customers in Zone 1

PG&E said it has been restoring electricity to customers all Tuesday, even as it also began de-energizing other customers, as part of the third electricity shut-off in a week.

The utility company estimated that 67 percent of its customers impacted by the Oct. 26 outages have had their electricity restored, totaling about 650,000 customers, as of 5:30 p.m.

The utility company said it received the "all clear" at 5 p.m. to begin restoring electricity to customers in Zone 1, estimated to be 50,000 customers. PG&E had initially expected to begin restorations in that area at 10 a.m. Wednesday; the company said it had made some progress in restoring power in that area, and may continue to restore electricity through the evening after various areas pass inspections.

At least 435,000 customers are still without electricity as of 5:30 p.m.: 419,000 are estimated to be part of the planned outages, with an additional 16,000 customers out of service in unplanned outages, said Mark Quinlan, PG&E's director of wildfire operations.

The total number of impacted customers between the Oct. 26 and Oct. 29 outages was estimated at 970,000 customers, according to Quinlan.

Outages set for Tuesday are continuing, however, some places — such as the Bay Area — may see a reduced number of impacted households, Quinlan said.

"We had the Bay Area — Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa — these counties were in scope, they are still in scope, but the scope is being reduced because weather conditions have improved," Quinlan said.

"So, we’re shrinking the footprint of impact, if you will, in an effort to reduce customer impact," Quinlan continued. "Again, this is based on weather conditions."

A PG&E spokeswoman confirmed by phone that parts of Kern County will see outages at 9 p.m.; areas of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties can expect its power to go out at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

See the full news conference below:

UPDATE: Oct. 29, 3:30 p.m.: PG&E will credit customers for power shut-offs, governor says

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that PG&E has agreed to give customers who have lost power in the massive blackouts "some credits" on their electricity bills.

"We made contact with PG&E and they will begin the process of crediting customers for this disruption. This is significant because utilities in the past have never credited customers for these disruptions. We called for rebates, and the CEO just communicated with our staff that they are going to support some credits," Newsom said at a press conference with fire officials in Los Angeles.

Newsom has repeatedly slammed the utility company in recent weeks for "corporate greed" and "decades of mismanagement." On Monday, the California Public Utilities Commission also started an investigation into PG&E's preventative power shut-off protocol.

Any specific details about how much credit affected customers might receive, or when, have yet to be announced. PG&E has not released a statement on any such plan.

LATEST: Oct. 29, 2 p.m.: An estimated 1.5 million people without power

PG&E was simultaneously working to restore power and shut it off around the state Tuesday afternoon.

As of 1 p.m., PG&E said 500,000 customers (or approximately 1.5 million people were without power).

About 400,000 customers statewide were affected by back-to-back outages, starting on Saturday and extended by high wind conditions on Tuesday.

"The dynamic and changing weather conditions and high fire risk means that some customers who are currently out of power from the October 26 event will remain out throughout the duration of the October 29 event," the utility said in a statement.

The utility also provided an updated timeline of when planned shut-offs would begin Tuesday, moving most counties up by about an hour:

4 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

Butte, Plumas, Tehama, Trinity, and Shasta

7 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

Humboldt (Southern), Mendocino, Sonoma, Lake, Marin, Napa, Solano and Yolo counties

8 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sierra, and Yuba counties

4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne

7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

Humboldt (Northern), Siskiyou counties

9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

Kern County

10 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties

LATEST: Oct. 29, 8 a.m.: Power shut-offs begin again for North Bay residents

The power was once again shut off to approximately 240,000 customers in Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties starting at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning. Many of those customers hadn't even seen power restored from last weekend's PSPS (Public Safety Power Shut-off), before high winds prompted PG&E to call for a third shut-off this month.

Marin County was originally scheduled to lose power later Tuesday evening, but started seeing shut-offs Tuesday morning along with other North Bay counties, the Marin IJ reported.

For a full breakdown of when and where the power will go off Tuesday, see our story and maps here.

The high winds are expected to pass by mid-day Wednesday, at which point PG&E will issue an "all clear." But even after that happens, the power doesn't come back immediately. PG&E workers must inspect thousands of miles of power lines to ensure there's no damage. That can take up to 48 hours. In cases where there is damage to power lines or other PG&E infrastructure, power can be out even longer.

LATEST: Oct. 29, 6:30 a.m.: PG&E starts cutting power in third shutoff in a month

PG&E is watching the forecast for a widespread dry, offshore wind event beginning Tuesday through midday Wednesday, and will begin shutting off power to approximately 596,000 customers to mitigate wildfire risk in Northern and Southern Sierra, North Bay, Bay Area, Santa Cruz mountains, North Coast and Kern County.

"Given fluctuations in the forecasts, PG&E continues to analyze whether this wind event will prompt more safety shutoffs, and the extent of those shutoffs," PG&E said in a statement.

Here's the timeline for shutoffs. The times are estimates and may change (earlier or later) dependent on weather:

5 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

Butte, Plumas, Tehama, Trinity, and Shasta

7 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

Humboldt (Southern), Mendocino, Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Solano and Yolo counties

9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sierra, and Yuba counties

4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne

9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29

Humboldt (Northern), Siskiyou, and Kern counties

11 p.m. Tuesday, Oct 29

Marin, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties

Pacific Gas and Electric Company said Monday evening that it had restored approximately 57% of the 970,000 customers who lost power in a shutoff that began October 26. As of 10 p.m. today, about 556,400 customers had been restored in portions of the following counties

Full PG&E shutoff coverage:

- Here's when PG&E plans to restore power, based on location

- Tuesday wind event will trigger another round of power shut-offs

- Stuck in the dark? Here’s where to find power in the Bay Area during the PG&E outage

- How do I know when PG&E is shutting off my power?

- Here’s why PG&E doesn’t put more power lines underground

Amy Graff is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her at agraff@sfgate.com.