PG&E Glacial Pace

[justsam]

My daughter and family are building a new home in Dry Creek area of Healdsburg California. Property was unimproved so has required septic, propane tank, and well pump in existing well head, and of course power. Process and permitting has been slow but PG&E is downright glacial, in spite of them being pushed by the electrical contractor, (Summit Technology). Of course this has resulted in on site generators for construction and for power to run the new well pumps. It is a straight run underground for about 300 feet from an existing pole line. Transformer pad and terminating facilities have long been in place, just waiting for that last 300 feet!

There will be main house, a granny unit, barn/garage, and pool. Provision is being made for solar as well as back up generator on propane. Granny and pool are nearing completion, so power would sure be nice to have. Lesson here is assume PG&E will be late to the party; they have not been humbled by all the litigation.

 

[nadogail]

Pacific Gouge and Extortion is probably consulting with their actuaries to see if their insurance can cover their involvement in your project.

 

[Norcal]

Sooner or later PG&E will get around to powering your Zinsco II panels, the problem is they will choose later, much later.

 

[PCustoms]

My daughter and family are building a new home in Dry Creek area of Healdsburg California. Property was unimproved so has required septic, propane tank, and well pump in existing well head, and of course power. Process and permitting has been slow but PG&E is downright glacial, in spite of them being pushed by the electrical contractor, (Summit Technology). Of course this has resulted in on site generators for construction and for power to run the new well pumps. It is a straight run underground for about 300 feet from an existing pole line. Transformer pad and terminating facilities have long been in place, just waiting for that last 300 feet!

There will be main house, a granny unit, barn/garage, and pool. Provision is being made for solar as well as back up generator on propane. Granny and pool are nearing completion, so power would sure be nice to have. Lesson here is assume PG&E will be late to the party; they have not been humbled by all the litigation.

Damn, based on that setup this must be a ma$$ive house.

 

[tarmy]

Hey, they have all kinds of commercials congratulating themselves for all the good work they doing, none of which is related to actually being efficient.

Good luck, it took me two years to get my underground 400A panel powered up. I finally got tired of waiting and installed a generator to run everything. Cost a small fortune to keep running but I got done what I wanted anyway.

 

[Stuart in MN]

When you say late, just how much time has passed? It's not unusual for any electric utility to take many months to get a service installed after it is first requested.

 

[Countyroadtrailers]

y’all pay these companies and they take this long?

I have dropped 5 power services in the last two years. My house, my shop, two rentals and the temp pole that I used building the shop. From the time I pulled the permit at the inspections office to having transformers mounted and power turned on was less than 48 hours every time.

On the house I had them route the power a little different resulting in having to add three poles a pole light and stringing new cable and it was done in 48 hours.

Sometimes I don’t like living rural, just kidding what’s not to love.

 

[firebirdparts]

^^^^ Be careful, they might move.

 

[Firebrick43]

My company had a project the require a ground set 3 phase transformer of 200 amps. Duke took 4 months.

They were claiming that the ground set transformers are in very short supply right now.

Lesson here is assume PG&E will be late to the party; they have not been humbled by all the litigation.

What? You think a company that has a monopoly and as large as PG & E can be humbled?

Do you think “humbled” would be the feeling after being hobbled for years buy environmental studies, lawsuits, and bureaucracy from clearing brush and trees.

Then sued for it.

And now that a legal precedent has been set requiring them to act(and someone protecting them) and they are actively removing trees people are going crazy, with article after article in local news about the how terrible it is that they are clearing the easement.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

y’all pay these companies and they take this long?

I have dropped 5 power services in the last two years. My house, my shop, two rentals and the temp pole that I used building the shop. From the time I pulled the permit at the inspections office to having transformers mounted and power turned on was less than 48 hours every time.

On the house I had them route the power a little different resulting in having to add three poles a pole light and stringing new cable and it was done in 48 hours.

Sometimes I don’t like living rural, just kidding what’s not to love.

ummm we dont have a choice here. only one power company serves an area...

 

[Norcal]

PG&E's service area covers about 2/3rds of the State of California, from the Loony Land (Oregon) boarder to around Bakersfield, with a bureaucracy that large, & there is a huge backlog for padmount transformers (there is a precast pad for one in front of the gear) they are going to move at the speed of molasses in January.

I have heard & not sure if it's changed that padmounts are a year out.

 

[justsam]

Pad mount is in place with conduit run to the pole that will be serving the transformer. Plans were final last October with GC electrical sub working with PG&E. Of course GC and electrical sub insisted they had good working relationship with PG&E and could move things along.

 

[Zeke]

ummm we dont have a choice here. only one power company serves an area...

I think he had a different meaning using the word "dropped." I've lived in AL and I don't believe there are multiple POCO's.

 

[Norcal]

Pad mount is in place with conduit run to the pole that will be serving the transformer. Plans were final last October with GC electrical sub working with PG&E. Of course GC and electrical sub insisted they had good working relationship with PG&E and could move things along.

Your photo only shows the precast/molded pad, in front of the Zinsco II gear.

 

[alfredeneuman]

Of course this has resulted in on site generators for construction and for power to run the new well pumps

It's quite common to use generators during construction.

As to their being slow, think of how long you would have to wait for a temporary power pole.
If they're that slow the project wouldn't have even started yet.

 

[dcg9381]

Of course this has resulted in on site generators for construction and for power to run the new well pumps. It is a straight run underground for about 300 feet from an existing pole line. Transformer pad and terminating facilities have long been in place, just waiting for that last 300 feet!

Here, I had to pour my own transformer pad, go through inspection, wait 30 days for a transformer, get the main panel built, get the main panel inspected - that took months. Then add a temp panel for construction. Like you, doesn't stop home construction with a generator... But timeline here seems to be about the same.

Provision is being made for solar as well as back up generator on propane.

Those don't usually play nice together, at least without one of the more modern inverters that was designed for generator power. Curious if you'll share the design. They way I had to do ours (a few years ago) when we're on generator power, our PV system is offline. Not ideal.

 

[justsam]

Follow up, PGE power is on! One year since request was submitted. Took less time to build the house, (ADU), than it took PGE to provide power. Only the ADU, (Granny Unit), is completed and awaiting final inspections and CO. Power requirements were 100 Amp for the ADU and 400 Amp for the main house which also includes heat pumps well pumps, small vineyard irrigation, garage/barn, pool and spa.

PGE had a crew out there for three days, and replaced the existing pole, connected to distribution line, ran 300 feet of wire from pole to transformer pad in underground conduit provided to them, installed transformer, and meters on backboard.

 

[ericm]

"A.U.D"?

Congrats on getting PG&E to do something other than set things on fire.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Follow up, PGE power is on! One year since request was submitted. Took less time to build the house, (ADU), than it took PGE to provide power. Only the ADU, (Granny Unit), is completed and awaiting final inspections and CO. Power requirements were 100 Amp for the ADU and 400 Amp for the main house which also includes heat pumps well pumps, small vineyard irrigation, garage/barn, pool and spa.

PGE had a crew out there for three days, and replaced the existing pole, connected to distribution line, ran 300 feet of wire from pole to transformer pad in underground conduit provided to them, installed transformer, and meters on backboard.

wow all that work for just single phase. i wouldve tried to get 3 phase since its available on the pole.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

"A.U.D"?

Congrats on getting PG&E to do something other than set things on fire.

Profit Gouge & Execute, Profits Gone Elsewhere, Pacific Graft & Extortion

 

[driftpin]

"A.U.D"?

Congrats on getting PG&E to do something other than set things on fire.

Accessory dwelling unit if it's abbreviated correctly

 

[justsam]

Yes, as stated above, ADU is Accessory Dwelling Unit. It is what was called a granny unit in the past. In Sonoma County, the size limit was recently changed from 800 sq ft to 1200 sq ft to qualify as an ADU. Who ever put the name on the meter was perhaps a bit dyslexic.

Three phase is in use at the winery next pole down. The electrical contractor saw no need for it for residential.