Saratoga News

PG&E updates its circuits to prevent power outages

By Sarah Lombardo

Pacific Gas & Electric representative Scott Blakey likens Saratoga-area circuits and lines to old Christmas tree lights.

"In the old days, when you had a set of Christmas tree lights and one went out, they would all go out," he said. "What we are doing in Saratoga and the surrounding areas is shortening the distance between circuits so that if one goes out they don't all go out."

PG&E crews will be in Saratoga over the next few months installing insulated tree wire in heavily wooded areas, putting in new circuit devices and building underground ties between some circuits. The work is scheduled to be completed before the end of the year and is designed to help reduce power outages and improve overall dependability.

Specific improvements include the following:

* Overhead wire, including some insulated wire, new switches, fuses and automatic circuit breakers will be going in along Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, west of Pierce Road to Saratoga Avenue and north of Big Basin Way/Congress Springs Road, including Mount Eden Road and Regan Drive;

* Overhead wire, underground cables and switches will be installed along roads connecting Fruitvale and Allendale avenues to Saratoga-Los Gatos Road and San Benito Avenue following Quito Road, including Pollard Road.

Blakey said the improvements are not a direct result of what some experts say is an impending bad winter, but is just for better reliability in general.

"But the timing is pretty good, wouldn't you say?" he added.

The insulated tree wire, Blakey said, is to make sure that fires aren't started by tree branches falling on lines. Although Blakey said nothing can be done to prevent damage from a tree--not just a branch--falling on power lines, by installing the insulated wire, "in the normal wear and tear of stuff being blown around, you lower the chances of something happening." The circuit improvements are to cut down on outages and make it easier to restore power sooner.

"You are always going to have outages," he said. "What we're trying to do is reduce the number of customers affected by those outages at any given time and provide the best information that we can to those who are affected."

The project is part of the company's Electric Distribution Reliability Project, in which the company identified circuits in need of repair or modifying. The project, Blakey said, "dovetails in with PG&E's overall maintenance program."

Residents with questions about the project can call PG&E's Electric Service Reliability Line at 725-7797. Other questions about service can be directed to 800/PGE-5000.

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