Livermore residents said a recent power surge killed many of their electronics and it affected more than 500 homes in the area.
Surveillance video appeared to show the moment of a power surge in Livermore off Holmes Street just after midnight on Tuesday.
When the power came back on, some residents noticed something was off.
“This TV is dead,” said Livermore resident Tyler Trant. “Our thermostat is dead, so no heat or A/C.”
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Tyler and Megan Trant took NBC Bay Area through their house Wednesday and they said that only half of everything plugged in made it through the surge.
“We lost our toaster oven; we lost our coffee maker. They just died. They took that surge and just ‘poof.’ Nothing noticeable except they don’t do anything at all,” said Tyler Trant.
The Trants said it’s adding up to thousands of dollars in repairs including their hot tub.
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“It’s brutal, just brutal. This was a $10,000 hot tub that I use every day,” Tyler Trant said.
According to the residents, the surge made a loud noise inside the homes and they immediately came outside and checked on each other.
Each neighbor noticed something different. For Brian Rittman, smoke was actually billowing out of his smart meter that has since been replaced.
“Several things were out. Mostly led lights. We had about six to seven led lights that were burned out,” he said.
Rittman said he’s lived on the block for nearly 30 years.
“We’ve never even had a breaker trip from a surge before, if there’s ever even been a surge before, in 29 and a half years,” he said.
Other residents who NBC Bay Area spoke to said they lost fridges or appliances and the surge protectors were fried and smoking.
PG&E said the outage and surge happened a block away due to a palm frond falling from one of the trees. They added the tree made contact with both a transmission line and distribution line, causing a power surge.
“PG&E crews were out in full force yesterday, working to make repairs and support our customers, and have already begun discussions with affected customers. “Although the palm tree was not in PG&E’S right-of-way and we are not responsible for its maintenance, we will review and consider each claim,” a PG&E official said in a statement.
Some residents don’t believe the reasoning and worry if they’ll be paid back.
“So, I think PG&E needs to make sure whatever damage was done that they compensate their clients,” said Megan Trant.
PG&E's Statement
PG&E officials released the following statement to NBC Bay Area Wednesday night:
"We are aware of an outage that happened yesterday in Livermore. The outage was caused by a palm frond that made contact with both a transmission line and distribution line, causing a power surge. PG&E crews were out in full force yesterday, working to make repairs and support our customers, and have already begun discussions with affected customers. If a customer experienced damage from the surge, they can call PG&E’s claims department at (415) 973-4548 or fill out an online form at pge.com/claims. Although the palm tree was not in PG&E’s Right-of-Way and we are not responsible for its maintenance, we will review and consider each claim."
