Cris Alarcon, News@InEDC.com

(PLACERVILLE, CALIFORNIA) Aug 24, 2022 — “Erroneous signal” sent during compliance testing blamed for causing massive El Dorado County power outage.

By 11:45 a.m., PG&E said that number had dropped to 1,156 customers. All customers were restored by 2 p.m.

“Yeah, it was last minute.” said Mary Fulmer, owner of Hog Wild BBQ in Placerville. Fulmer said the restaurant was in the middle of a catering order when the power went out and had to pivot to keep the food at a safe temperature, whether hot or cold.

Fulmer said the power was back on “very quickly” and was grateful to PG&E for the service.

According to PG&E’s outage map, power wasn’t expected to be restored until about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday for some areas. Other areas had an even later time of after 4 p.m. for estimated restoration.

City of Placerville In a post on social media, the City of Placerville confirmed that the problem likely originated from a failed substation in El Dorado Hills. CBS13 asked PG&E to confirm this information and were told that the company does not share specific substation locations “due to security concerns.”

A PG&E official said the problem stemmed from an “erroneous signal” sent to a piece of equipment while crews were doing some compliance testing. The signal caused several transmission lines and substations to be deenergized.