PG&E’s Aging Poles: How the utility plans to fix them — and how long they've known

GULSTAN: IN DECEMBER, A RECORD-BREAKING SNOWSTORM KNOCKEOUD T POWER TO HUNDREDOFS THOUSANDS OF PG&E CUSTOMERS. WEEKS IN THE DARK LEFT RESIDENTS WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED. EDIE:CR KA 3 INVESTIGATES BRITTANY JOHNSON SEARCHED FOR ANSWERS. DURING OUR INVESTIGATION INTO THE OUTAGES WE UNCOVERED DOCUMENTS EXPLAINING A DIFFERENT PROBLEM INVOLVING POWER POLES THAT PG&E HAS KNOWN ABOUT FOR YEARS. ♪ >> THAT WAS ONE OF THE INITIAL BREAKS RIGHT THERE. IT IS RIGHT APPEAR. -- RIGHT UP HERE. >> IT WAS ALREADY LEANING. SO IT HAD STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS. BRITTANY: SURVEYING THE DAMAGE IN NEVADA COUNTY. >> THIS IS THE MAJOR CULPRIT, THIS TREE CAME DOWN BY THE RTSOO OVER THERE. BRITTANY: RODGER HOOPMAN AND HIS WIFE VICKI FORTINI SPENT WEEKS WITHOUT POWER. >> SO, THIS IS THE FIRE ACCESS LINE, HERE. >> ANOTHER DOWNED POWER LI.NE BRITTANY: LIKE THEIR NEIGHBOR WAYNE PITTMAN. RESIDENTS IN CHICAGO PARK WERE FRUSTRATEDIT WH THE LONG WAIT FOR INFORMATION. >> I WAS CALLING THREE TO FOUR TIMES A DAY. AN D AT ONE POINT I WAS GETTING PRETTY, PRETTYAD M. BRITTANY: KCRA 3 INVESTIGASTE STARTED DIGGING INTO THE REASON BEHIND THE DELAY IN POWER RESTORATION. IN OUR SEARCH FOR ANSWERS WE FOUND DOCUMENTS EXPLAINING A DIFFERENT PROBLEM INVOLVING MESO PG&E PEROW POLES. THE POLES ARE TREATED WITH A SOLUTION CALLED CELLON. THE SOLUTION IS MEANT TO PREVENT INFESTATION AND ROTTING. BUT AS THE POLES AGE THEY CAN STILL BY SUBJECT TO DRY RO THE CPUC SAYS RESEARCH HAS FOUND CELLON TREATED POLES ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE FLAGGED FOR REINFORCEMENT OR REPLACEMENT ONCE THEY ARE 42-YEARS-OLD. THIS YEAR, 70% OF PG&E’S CELLON TREATED POLES WILL BE MORE TNHA 42-YEARS-OLD. BY THE YEAR 2030, ALL OF PGE’S 543,000 CELLON TREATED POLES, WILL BE OLDER THAN 42. KCRA 3 BROUGHT THIS ISSUE TO PG&E CEO PATTI POPPE. >> IT’S -- I OFTEN SAY Y COUAN’T FIX WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT. NOW WE KNOW ABOUT THAT AND WE CAN CONTAIN THAT AND CONTINUE TO WORK THAT ISSUE. BRITTANY: IN OUR DIGGING KCRA 3 INVESTIGATES FOUND PG&E HAS KNOWN ABOUT AGE CONCERNS WITH CELLON TREATED POLES, FOR MORE THAN A DECADE. IN A STUDY FROM 2007, AN ENGINEER WARNED ALMOST A THIRD OF PG&E’S POLES WERE TREATED WITH CELLON IN 1960’S AND EAR NOT EXCTPEED TO LAST MORE THAN 10 YEARS FROM NOW. THAT REPORT WAS PUBLISHED 15 YEARS AGO. WE ARE NOW 5 YEARS PAST THE WARNING DATE. WE WANTED TO KNOW, IS PGE PLANNING TO CHANGE OUT ALLHE T POLES? >> WCHE ANGE ALL POLES OUT EVENTUALLY, SO YES, SO WIT IH, MEAN THERE WILL BE A POLL EXCHANGE PROCESS BUT WILBE -- AGAIN, WILL BE CONTINUING TO MOTONIR THAT. BRITTANY: PART OF THE PROBLEM, THE POLES CAN LOOK OK, EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT, THIS VIDEO FROM NBC BAY AREA SHOWS A CELLOTRN EATED POLE THAT FELL INTO A BACKYARD IN DANVILLE BACK IN 2020. AN EMAIL FROM PGE TO THE CPUC ABOUT THE POLE SAYS,RI P INSPECTIONS HAD FAILED TO DETECT SIGNIFICANT INTERNAL DRY ROT. PG&E SAID, FOLLOWING THAT INCIDENT, IT CREATED NEW INSPECTION PROCEDURES TO TEST FOR ROTTING. >> I WOULD SAY ON THE CELLON POLES, WE CAN DO INSPECTIONS OF THOSE POLES. WE ARE DOING INSPECTIONS OF OSTHE POLLS AND WE’RE ROREPTING ROUTINELY TO THE CPUC. BRITTANY: PG&E WOULDN’T TELL US THE SPECIFIC LOCATION OF THE CELLON TREATED POL.ES BUT WE DO KNOW IN PLACER, NEVADA AND EL DORADO COUNTIES ALONE, THERE ARE AT LEAST 78,000. THEY HAVE THE HIGHEST RATEF O OUTAGES AFTER THAT STORM. AND NOW SOME HOMEOWNERS ARE CONCERNED. >> SO, IF SOMETHING WAS TO HAPPEN TO THIS POLE, AND IT WAS WEAKENED, AND I DIDN’T KNOW IT’D BE, IT’D BE GREAT TO KNOW. >> THEY HAVE TO COME UP WITH A BETTER A BETTER SYSTEM IN PLACE. OR GIVE IT UP IN TURNED IT OVER TO SOMEONE ELSE. ITBRTANY: JUST THIS AFTERNN, PG&E REACHED OUT TO KCRA 3 INVESTIGATES WITH MORE DETAILS ABOUT THAT DECEMBER SNOWSTORM. A OKSPESPERSON TOLD US, QUE,OT "THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT CELLON TREATMENT WAS A FACTOR IN STORM DAMAGED POLES NEEDING TO BE REPLACED." ANDREA, BRIAN, BACK TO Y.OU BRITTANY, WHAT IS THE OVERSIGHT LIKE HERE? WHO IS MAKING SURE PG&E IS DOING ITJOS B AND KEEPING PEOPLE SAFE? BRITTANY: THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION IS MAKING SURE PG&E CHECKS AND TESTS ITS POS. CPUC SAYS IT IS CONCERNED ABTOU CELL, ONTREATED POLES ESPECIALLY IN HIGH FIRE DANGER AREAS. OFFICIALS SAY, THEY WERE PARTICULARLY CONCERNED WITH PGE’S PROCEDURAL GAP TO DETECT ROTTING POLES. BUT THE CPUC SAYS, AS OF 21,02 AND AFTER THEIR SELF REPORTING, PG&E IS FIXING THAT PROBLEM, WITH ITS UPDATED TESTING METHODS. EDIE: THANK YOU. WE HAVE MORE ON THIS ON THE KCRA 3 P.AP RIGHT NOW, WE HAVE A MAP SHOWING HOW MANY CELLON TREATED POSLE ARE IN EACH COUNTY IN OUR REGION YOU N CASEE HOW MANY POLESRE A IN YOUR AREA. WE ALSO HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT PG&E IS DOING TO INSPECT THESE POLES. AND IF YOU HAVE A TIP YOU WOULD LIKE US TO LOOK INTO, SE

KCRA 3 Investigates has uncovered more issues with maintenance and infrastructure belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric Company.Our team found a decade-old warning about poles treated with a solution called "Cellon."Cellon is meant to prevent infestation and rotting on power poles, but as the poles age, they can still be subject to dry rot.The California Public Utilities Commission said research has found Cellon-treated poles are more likely to be flagged for reinforcement or replacement once they are 42 years old.According to CPUC, in 2022, 70% of PG&E's Cellon-treated poles will be more than 42 years old, and by the year 2030, all of PG&E's 543,560 Cellon-treated poles will be older than 42.KCRA 3 took the issue to PG&E CEO Patti Poppe."I often say, 'You can't fix what you don't know about.' Now we know about that and we can contain that and continue to work that issue," Poppe said.In our digging, KCRA 3 Investigates found PG&E has known about concerns with Cellon-treated poles for more than a decade.In a depreciation study from 2007, a field engineer warned "... almost a third of PG&E's poles were treated with Cellon in the 1960s and are not expected to last more than 10 years from now."We asked Poppe if PG&E had plans to change out all of the poles."We change all poles out eventually, so yes, I mean, there will be a pole exchange process, and we will be continuing to monitor that," she said.Part of the problem is power poles can look okay even if they are not.NBC Bay Area first reported and showed images of a Cellon-treated pole that fell into someone's backyard in Danville in 2020.Nearly one year later, in an email from PG&E to CPUC about the pole in Danville, a PG&E employee stated that prior inspections failed to "detect significant internal dry rot" in that pole.The utility company said following that incident, it created new inspection procedures to test for rot."I would say on the Cellon poles, we can do inspections of those poles. We are doing inspections of those polls and we're reporting routinely to the CPUC," Poppe said.Via email, a PG&E spokesperson sent details on how the utility company now inspects Cellon-treated poles.PG&E uses its Intrusive Inspection Program-Pole Test & Treat to detect water damage and other environmental factors. PG&E also:Developed enhanced inspection techniques to identify internal dry rot, including updating inspection procedures to require drilling a new bore hole during inspections to test for internal rot and shell thicknessEvaluated whether Cellon-treated poles have a lower threshold for deterioration that would trigger corrective actions to replace or stub the poleIs developing a Cellon-treated pole risk score to prioritize inspection planning, and prioritize stubbing and replacement of poles that require corrective actionIs improving data quality captured on inspection formsReviewed training methods and procedures of pole inspection subcontractors to look for opportunities to improve the quality of their workPacific Gas and Electric would not tell KCRA 3 Investigates the specific location of the Cellon-treated poles, but we were able to receive county-specific information on the Cellon-treated poles that CPUC received from PG&E. CPUC is focused on fire threat and wanted to know which fire threat district the Cellon-treated poles are located in. We asked PG&E if any Cellon-treated poles played a part in power outages during a record-breaking snowstorm in December.A spokesperson sent us the following response via email:"There’s no evidence that the pole replacements during this storm event were necessarily due to internal defects, including those associated with Cellon-treated poles. The magnitude of the storms and the force of the winds blew down large trees and structures, some of which failed and knocked down PG&E facilities. In fact, when PG&E’s meteorology group forecast the storm, PG&E prepared to respond to the impacts and PG&E’s crews were ready to work as quickly as possible despite the extreme weather and harsh conditions. In all, more than 3,700 components of our electric system in Placer, Nevada, and El Dorado counties were damaged as a result of the storm. Poles represented about 20% of the total equipment replaced after the storm event. Some poles may not have been damaged by the storms, but were designated for replacement based on other factors while the repair effort was ongoing. The magnitude of the damage caused by the storm and the challenging conditions facing our workers dictated the duration of the outages while we repaired the storm damage."As additional infrastructure problems come to light, KCRA 3 Investigates will continue to press for answers from the utility.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

KCRA 3 Investigates has uncovered more issues with maintenance and infrastructure belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

Our team found a decade-old warning about poles treated with a solution called "Cellon."

Cellon is meant to prevent infestation and rotting on power poles, but as the poles age, they can still be subject to dry rot.

The California Public Utilities Commission said research has found Cellon-treated poles are more likely to be flagged for reinforcement or replacement once they are 42 years old.

According to CPUC, in 2022, 70% of PG&E's Cellon-treated poles will be more than 42 years old, and by the year 2030, all of PG&E's 543,560 Cellon-treated poles will be older than 42.

KCRA 3 took the issue to PG&E CEO Patti Poppe.

"I often say, 'You can't fix what you don't know about.' Now we know about that and we can contain that and continue to work that issue," Poppe said.

In our digging, KCRA 3 Investigates found PG&E has known about concerns with Cellon-treated poles for more than a decade.

In a depreciation study from 2007, a field engineer warned "... almost a third of PG&E's poles were treated with Cellon in the 1960s and are not expected to last more than 10 years from now."

We asked Poppe if PG&E had plans to change out all of the poles.

"We change all poles out eventually, so yes, I mean, there will be a pole exchange process, and we will be continuing to monitor that," she said.

Part of the problem is power poles can look okay even if they are not.

NBC Bay Area first reported and showed images of a Cellon-treated pole that fell into someone's backyard in Danville in 2020.

A Cellon-treated pole fell into someone's backyard in Danville in 2020. KCRA 3 Investigates safety concerns with PG&E’s aging power poles. How the utility company plans to fix them & where they're located >> https://t.co/sqaMYpslYk

📷: Apparent cause evaluation report pic.twitter.com/xuaKHl0PAz
— kcranews (@kcranews) February 24, 2022

Nearly one year later, in an email from PG&E to CPUC about the pole in Danville, a PG&E employee stated that prior inspections failed to "detect significant internal dry rot" in that pole.

The utility company said following that incident, it created new inspection procedures to test for rot.

"I would say on the Cellon poles, we can do inspections of those poles. We are doing inspections of those polls and we're reporting routinely to the CPUC," Poppe said.

Via email, a PG&E spokesperson sent details on how the utility company now inspects Cellon-treated poles.

PG&E uses its Intrusive Inspection Program-Pole Test & Treat to detect water damage and other environmental factors. PG&E also:

Developed enhanced inspection techniques to identify internal dry rot, including updating inspection procedures to require drilling a new bore hole during inspections to test for internal rot and shell thickness
Evaluated whether Cellon-treated poles have a lower threshold for deterioration that would trigger corrective actions to replace or stub the pole
Is developing a Cellon-treated pole risk score to prioritize inspection planning, and prioritize stubbing and replacement of poles that require corrective action
Is improving data quality captured on inspection forms
Reviewed training methods and procedures of pole inspection subcontractors to look for opportunities to improve the quality of their work

Pacific Gas and Electric would not tell KCRA 3 Investigates the specific location of the Cellon-treated poles, but we were able to receive county-specific information on the Cellon-treated poles that CPUC received from PG&E.

CPUC is focused on fire threat and wanted to know which fire threat district the Cellon-treated poles are located in.

We asked PG&E if any Cellon-treated poles played a part in power outages during a record-breaking snowstorm in December.

A spokesperson sent us the following response via email:

"There’s no evidence that the pole replacements during this storm event were necessarily due to internal defects, including those associated with Cellon-treated poles. The magnitude of the storms and the force of the winds blew down large trees and structures, some of which failed and knocked down PG&E facilities. In fact, when PG&E’s meteorology group forecast the storm, PG&E prepared to respond to the impacts and PG&E’s crews were ready to work as quickly as possible despite the extreme weather and harsh conditions. In all, more than 3,700 components of our electric system in Placer, Nevada, and El Dorado counties were damaged as a result of the storm. Poles represented about 20% of the total equipment replaced after the storm event. Some poles may not have been damaged by the storms, but were designated for replacement based on other factors while the repair effort was ongoing. The magnitude of the damage caused by the storm and the challenging conditions facing our workers dictated the duration of the outages while we repaired the storm damage."

As additional infrastructure problems come to light, KCRA 3 Investigates will continue to press for answers from the utility.

PG&E’s Aging Poles: How the utility plans to fix them — and how long they've known

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