Thousands of PG&E Customers Now Protected from Wildfires as 1,000 Miles of Powerlines are Energized and Underground
Results: Underground Powerlines in 27 Counties; System-wide Risk Reduced by 8.4%
OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has now constructed and energized 1,000 miles of powerlines underground in high fire risk areas. PG&E has identified its undergrounding effort as the largest ever by a utility to reduce wildfire risk. In the locations where those lines provide electricity to customers, undergrounding eliminates nearly all wildfire risk.
In total, PG&E's system hardening efforts, which includes undergrounding, stronger overhead poles and wires and line removals, have permanently removed 8.4% of wildfire ignition risk from our entire system since 2023.
How far is 1,000 miles? If you drove from the Oregon-California border down to the California-Mexico border, you would travel 932 miles.
"Putting 1,000 miles of powerlines underground is a significant milestone for our customers as we work to reduce wildfire risk every day," said Peter Kenny, PG&E's senior vice president of Electric Operations. "When our CEO, Patti Poppe, announced in 2021 that we would put thousands of miles of powerlines underground, skeptics said it couldn't be done. Well, not only are we at 1,000 miles and counting, but we also have substantially reduced the cost for our customers as we've scaled up our work."
Underground powerlines are now serving customers in high fire-risk areas of 27 counties in Northern and Central California, ranging from 337 miles in Butte County and 119 miles in Shasta County to more than 50 miles of buried powerlines in each of El Dorado, Lake, Placer, Plumas and Solano counties.
By the end of 2026, PG&E anticipates a total of 1,600 miles of powerlines will be underground, contributing to a total risk reduction of 18% across the entire system.
Since the start of the program, the cost per mile of undergrounding has decreased from $4 million to $3.1 million in 2025. Further reductions are expected in coming years.
Undergrounding cost savings have been achieved through multiple innovations and ideas.
- Reducing cost and travel time and supporting local economies by hiring hometown contractors.
- Working more efficiently with state-of-the-art construction equipment, including chain trenchers, rock-wheel saws and slinger trucks.
- Avoiding the year-after-year tree trimming required by overhead line maintenance.
- Saving time, money and additional dirt removal by reducing the standard depth and width of trenches.
- Cutting disposal costs by using excess soil from undergrounding projects for other operational projects.
With increasing fire risk across the western United States, it is critical to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. PG&E is taking both immediate and long-term actions to keep communities safe, while also focusing on reduced costs and increased reliability.
PG&E uses multiple layers of protection that work together to prevent wildfires. These have significantly reduced wildfire risk. These safety measures prevented major fires from our equipment in 2023 and 2024 and have greatly reduced wildfire risk since 2018.
Over the past seven years, PG&E has:
- Developed a state-wide network of nearly 1,600 weather stations and more than 650 HD cameras to respond to wildfire risk in real time
- Inspected, trimmed or removed over 960,000 trees and other types of vegetation across the service area
- Completed more than 1,000 miles of undergrounding
- Installed more than 1,400 miles of strengthened power poles and covered powerlines
Matt Pender, PG&E's vice president of Undergrounding and System Hardening, praised his team for its focus on protecting customers.
"It feels amazing to be making a difference that will last for many, many years, for decades, by putting these lines underground and reducing wildfire risk for the long run," he said.
According to a report by the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, PG&E was recognized as one of the nation's top utilities for wildfire readiness, exemplifying the highest level of preparedness. The report also ranked PG&E's Wildfire Mitigation Plan at Tier 1 maturity, the highest possible score in the assessment.
To learn more about PG&E's wildfire safety efforts, visit pge.com/wildfiresafetyprogess.
Note: B-roll available upon request
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/news.
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SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company