UPDATE: PG&E says power has been restored to all impacted customers.
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Nearly 3,000 customers are without power in the San Luis Obispo area.
According to PG&E's online outage map, the outage begins at Santa Rosa St., includes Cal Poly, and extends north along Highway 101 to Santa Margarita.
The outage began at 5:20 p.m.
PG&E says a troubleman is on scene to assess the situation and that it appears the outage is the result of Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS).
"These settings allow our powerlines to automatically turn off power within one-tenth of a second when there is a hazard, like a tree branch falling into a powerline, or other debris hitting our line. EPSS settings are in place in high fire-risk areas and some adjacent regions, which is why some areas not in a high fire risk area experience these outages," explained PG&E Communications Representative Carina Corral.
In this case, Corral says a vehicle may have hit a power pole, activating the EPSS.
PG&E estimates power will be restored by 9 p.m., but some areas could see power restored sooner as crews begin to patrol the line and make sure there are no hazards.
