RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nevada residents who live in areas most prone to wildfires could see their electricity intentionally cut.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that NV Energy already turns off customers' power during fires when lines are damaged or aren't working properly.
But the utility announced last week it would turn off power when there's a high risk of wildfires, too.
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Chris Hofmann is the utility's director of grid reliability. He says planned outages would lower the odds that an electrical malfunction would spark a wildfire.
Up to 15,000 customers in the Lake Tahoe Basin and the Spring Mountains could be subject to the outages.
New equipment to monitor weather, fuel moisture and soil conditions has been installed in those areas.