Lee Kiolbasa, Emergency Management Manager, gave a slide presentation and spoke on the Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), stating they’d just had one last week.
LIBERTY UTILITIES came to lunch at Loyalton Senior Center April 30th. All department were represented and willing to help.
Liberty serves 49,000-+ customers with 125 employees. It’s primary customer base is the Tahoe Area. The northern boundary is near Portola with the southern boundary near Walker.
All Liberty service areas are within the High Fire Threat District and have been designated either “Tier 2” (Elevated) or “Tier 3” (Extreme) fire risk, meaning the possibility of wildfire is at an elevated risk.
To combat this risk, Liberty developed and is currently executing an aggressive wildfire Mitigation Plan.
The length of a PSPS will be determined on a case-by-case basis, but the power restoration process will follow a simple formula: Fire conditions improve; Liberty dispatches crews to conduct safety inspections of the grid; Liberty makes any needed repairs and power is restored.
One slide told Fire Season Triggers 2024. The beginning of Fire Season is determined by Energy Release Component (ERC) data. Fire season could start between 60-80% ERC. Data was shown from the Cloud Fire and Field Sampling.
The group remained for individual questions and information before going on to Portola for a similar presentation. Sue McIlravy, on behalf of the City of Loyalton, attended to get information on rates.
