Small businesses threatened by potential PG&E power shut-offs

Small business owners say after the financial damage done by the pandemic, they can not afford to shut down during PG&E shutoffs.

Wave has many of us on alert for wildfire danger..

And with that threat comes the risk that pg&e will cut power... alan marsden joins us again -- alan... how are some businesses preparing for yet another shutdown threat?

Hayley -- this year has been a tough one for small business.

The effects of coronavirus pack a punch...and especially to our south -- hot, windy weather could bring the dreaded power shut offs.

In placerville -- business owners are bracing for the worst.

The owner of "the wine smith" says power was on and off for two weeks last year during pg&e blackouts.

But this year..pg and e is promising change.

"to have this again is a huge slap in the face...people didn't come in, we had to use candle light, the business was very slow and it was heartbreaking."// "definitely we should see a smaller number of customers being impacted."

# the company says it has installed nearly 600 sectionalizing devices to target shut offs at high-risk communities.

Also, it's installed more so-called microgrids -- like the one we showed you last week in shingletown..

And it's doubled the helicopter fleet to 65..which will speed up line inspections after a weather event is over.

And the company says covid 19 has not affected progress on this.

"our employees have been able to continue to work and continue to hit important milestones to upgrade our equipment."

Pg and e says it wants to keep outages to a maximum of 12 hours -- instead of days on end.

But many business owners say... after the damage done by covid-19 -- they can't afford even a one-day shutdown.

Hayley.

Thanks alan -- we'll keep an eye on the shutdown threat as winds pick up here at home toward the end of the work week.

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