PG&E outlines EPSS wildfire safeguards for Portola Valley, says two circuits already enabled

PG&E senior local government affairs representative Marjorie Ruiz Hidalgo told the Portola Valley Town Council that the utility has enabled Enhanced Power Line Safety Settings (EPSS) on the two circuits that feed the town and uses sectionalization, cameras, drones and increased inspections to reduce wildfire risk.

Ruiz Hidalgo said EPSS can detect foreign objects on lines and deenergize affected segments “sometimes within an eighth of a second,” and that the devices have contributed to an enterprise-wide estimated 69–70% reduction in ignition success rate since deployment in 2021. She described sectionalization of the Menlo 11‑02 and Woodside 11‑01 circuits to limit outages to smaller segments and allow faster restoration where safe.

Why it matters: Portola Valley is adjacent to higher fire‑threat areas; council members pressed PG&E on how often EPSS will cause momentary outages, how quickly crews can patrol and re-energize lines, and whether undergrounding is feasible for evacuation corridors.

Councilors asked whether customers can be told the cause of an outage sooner. Ruiz Hidalgo said the rapidity of an EPSS action often makes advance notice impossible; PG&E sends status updates to affected customers after deenergization and has a dedicated team to improve cause reporting following restoration. She also said the company uses weather and fuel‑moisture monitoring to decide when to enable EPSS and will patrol and inspect any deenergized segment before reenergizing it.

On undergrounding, Ruiz Hidalgo said Portola Valley currently contains Tier 2 (not the highest) wildfire-threat areas and that PG&E is prioritizing Tier 3 areas for undergrounding, so vegetation management will remain the company’s near-term focus in town. She said she was an internal advocate for more undergrounding and that the company can work with the town on a multi-year plan.

Council response: Members thanked PG&E for the presentation and asked for clearer communications and restoration expectations. Councilors also raised resident concerns about tree trimming practices and asked for better explanations of why crews prune in particular ways. Ruiz Hidalgo said PG&E’s vegetation managers are trained arborists and agreed to bring communication suggestions back to her team.

Next steps: PG&E said it will follow up with staff on battery‑rebate eligibility questions and on offering clearer customer messages after safety outages. The council discussed moving longer-term undergrounding conversations to narrower planning or special‑committee work.

Sources: Remarks by Marjorie Ruiz Hidalgo, PG&E (presentation and Q&A).