Fresno water-testing lab says PG&E cost company about $500,000 by dragging its feet
A Fresno-based water laboratory has hemorrhaged money in the past month according to lab officials who say it’s because of power loss PG&E hasn’t done enough to fix.
Headquartered in downtown Fresno, BSK Associates performs water quality testing for about a third of the municipalities in the state, according to Mike Brechmann, the company’s senior laboratory solutions administrator.
The lab checks drinking water for nitrates, TCP, potentially harmful microbiology or anything else that cities are required to clean out of the water ingested by citizens.
Lab technicians can be found throughout the headquarters on Stanislaus and E streets, just off of Highway 99, but much of the work is done by complicated technology that is automated and often runs overnight, Brechmann said.
That’s when the at least 13 power outages since Nov. 23 have become a problem, he said.
“This stuff is super complicated and if it’s not perfect, it doesn’t work,” Brechmann said.
Testing for cities around the state has started to stack up because of the work lost during the power outages at night, he said.
Any of the work being done during the night that is interrupted by a power outage is lost because the complicated machines can’t just pick up where they left off.
Brechmann said the work lost to power outages already hovers around $500,000.
“It’s causing vast amounts of overtime to be paid, lost product, lost samples,” he said. “We’re losing entire days — rates of work to the tune of maybe $50,000 every time we have these outages. We can’t sustain that financially.”
He said on Wednesday he had called PG&E several times to get to the bottom of the issue, but said it didn’t seem that the power company was taking it seriously enough. Representatives told him to keep calling back until he hears from officials with PG&E, he said.
PG&E response
BSK enlisted the help of Assemblymember Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, who told The Fresno Bee on Wednesday the lab’s concerns are serious and needed to be addressed immediately by PG&E.
Brechmann said PG&E inspectors arrived on-site Wednesday to assess the issue after he informed the company he had contacted The Bee.
The power company said late Wednesday it took some time to figure out what caused the temporary power outages, according to PG&E spokesperson Denny Boyles.
“Providing safe and reliable service to our customers is our most important responsibility,” PG&E said in a statement on Wednesday. “Today, a crew performed an additional patrol and found evidence (two dead birds) that birds were potentially impacting a nearby line, causing momentary outages at infrequent intervals.”
He said PG&E has recorded temporary outages — what would in a home amount to when all the lights flicker for a moment.
PG&E installed equipment that should prevent the problem from continuing and inspectors will follow up with BSK, Boyles said, and have set up a “dedicated point of contact” for the lab.
Power company’s controversies
California’s largest power company and its public oversight body — the Public Utilities Commission — have had a number of public controversies in recent years, including those that spurred anger over forest fires, solar panels and rate hikes.
The Public Utilities Commission has proposed slashing the credit paid to 1.3 million Californians for the excess solar power they don’t use and ship to the grid. The PUC says current rates represent a large subsidy for mostly well-to-do homeowners.
PG&E has also asked the California Public Utilities Commission to approve a 22% residential rate increase from 2023 to 2026.
Fresno city, Fresno County and Clovis elected officials have all come out against the proposed hike.
Patterson, the vice chair of the Utilities and Energy Committee, has publicly questioned the increase, noting in the central San Joaquin Valley residents buy more electricity because of more extreme weather.
“This is about affordability and reliability,” he said.
