PG&E could shut off power to part of nine Northern California counties, including Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties, because of high fire danger this week.
The utility is expected to decide Monday morning about whether to intentionally turn off electricity to reduce the chance of starting and spreading a wildfire.
As many as 44,000 Sonoma and Napa customers could lose service in a shutoff.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning covering for parts of Santa Clara and Alameda counties in the south to Sacramento, Chico and Redding in the north. The warning will be in effect from 9 p.m. Monday until Wednesday. The time for the end of the warning varies by location.
PG&E customers in the North Bay might lose power as early as Monday afternoon.
"This is not a decision we take lightly," said spokesman Jeff Smith. "We understand there are risks on both sides of turning off the power as well as leaving the power on when there are extremely dangerous fire conditions."
Intentional outages could happen throughout fire season when temperatures are high, winds are strong and the humidity is low. PG&E only recently began cutting power as a precaution.
The company's equipment has been blamed for starting devastating fire in recent years.
