SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The California Senate will investigate a California utility's process for cutting off power to more than 2 million people to prevent wildfires.
In a memo to the Senate Democratic Caucus on Thursday, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins asked the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee to "begin investigating and reviewing options to address the serious deficiencies" with PG&E's current process of shutting off power to prevent wildfires.
Atkins said an oversight hearing will be scheduled in the next few weeks.
Last week, dry conditions and dangerous winds prompted PG&E to cut power to more than 700,000 customers to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and other leaders said the outage lasted too long. Newsom has urged the utility to give rebates to affected customers and businesses.
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