GILROY
– It is unlikely the repeated, albeit brief, power outages
around Gilroy the past two weeks are related to an Aug. 25
electrical storm that blacked out more than 6,200 homes and
businesses, a Pacific Gas
&
amp; Electric spokesman said.
GILROY – It is unlikely the repeated, albeit brief, power outages around Gilroy the past two weeks are related to an Aug. 25 electrical storm that blacked out more than 6,200 homes and businesses, a Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman said.
PG&E does not record power outages lasting less than five minutes, so information on the handful of light flickerings in recent days is sparse. However, a Saturday night power outage affecting 150 Hollister customers was due to a blown fuse, PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith said.
“It was a mechanical failure. It has no relation to the storm,” Smith said. “The storm, from what we can tell, has had no residual effect on us.”
Smith said the recent outages in Gilroy, because they were so brief, were likely caused by relatively benign incidents. For example, power can blink on and off when tree branches rub against wires and push them together. Power can also flicker when small animals run along the wires.
“I can’t guarantee these are the things that caused the power outage, but it’s likely that’s all that happened,” Smith said.
Power lines, Smith explained, come equipped with devices called re-closers. If an event happens that sends too much voltage though wires, the re-closure temporarily stops voltage from moving through.
“It stops electricity from moving from point A to point B, sort of like the way a dam will stops water from flowing,” Smith said.
