SAN JOSE — PG&E is eyeing 10 projects that could curb intentional or accidental power failures in San Jose neighborhoods that are on the edges of high-risk wildfire zones.
Some of that PG&E work was underway this week on Camden Avenue near Almaden Expressway in south San Jose.
PG&E crews work to replace a power pole and connect electricity equipment on Camden Avenue in south San Jose, Feb. 19, 2025. (George Avalos/Bay Area News Group)
Oakland-based PG&E was working on Wednesday to replace a power pole and create connections for equipment to the existing power lines.
“I think that it’s great that PG&E is trying to reduce power outages,” said Dan Kennedy, who was watching, along with grandson, the utility’s crews work on Camden Avenue a few blocks from his San Jose residence.
Teresa Alvarado, PG&E vice president for the utility’s South Bay and Central Coast Region, discusses a PG&E electricity project while the company’s crews work to replace a power pole and connect electricity equipment on Camden Avenue in south San Jose, Feb. 19, 2025. (George Avalos/Bay Area News Group)
PG&E is spending about $11 million for the upgrade on Camden Avenue, estimated Stephanie Magallon, a PG&E spokesperson.
The work on Camden Avenue is “under budget,” Magallon said.
The Camden Avenue project is just one of 10 San Jose projects that are also designed to curb the likelihood of intentional power outages. The Camden Avenue endeavor is slated to be complete by this June.
PG&E, however, didn’t provide a cost estimate for the other nine projects. The utility also didn’t say whether additional rate requests would be needed to finance these additional endeavors or whether the money was already available for this additional work. A timetable wasn’t immediately known.
The neighborhood where PG&E crews labored this week is near hilly wildlands on the edge of the Almaden Valley in south San Jose.
“This and other projects will all interface with the hills and areas of high fire risk,” said Teresa Alvarado, PG&E vice president for the utility’s South Bay and Central Coast Region.
Close to 10,000 customers will see a significant reduction in outages during winter storms, high-fire risk conditions and heat waves, according to PG&E.
“We have installed more devices to reduce outages affecting our customers,” Alvarado said.
PG&E hopes to reduce the number of people who would lose power as a result of Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings — jargon for intentional shutdowns of electricity circuits to to curbe the chance PG&E equipment would cause a fire.
In the south San Jose neighborhood where PG&E was working, typically up to 4,940 customers would be subject to an intentional power failure.
PG&E believes that number, once the work is complete, will be roughly 690 customers at most.
The utility titan is under fire for a series of rate hikes, including several increases that the state Public Utilities approved in 2024.
Consumer groups have harshly criticized PG&E’s aggressive push to bury power lines in numerous sections of the company’s service territory in northern and central California.
Organizations such as The Utility Reform Network, or TURN, believe PG&E’s push to bury electrical lines is too costly. PG&E argues that undergrounding quests are a better and safer option long term.
Despite the PUC’s approval for a string of rate increases, PG&E customers in January experienced only a small rise in their monthly bills.
“My PG&E bills keep going up,” Kennedy, the San Jose resident said. “But I guess it has to be done if if makes things safer.”
