PG&E Unveils First-of-its-kind Monitoring Hub That Helped Prevent 17 Wildfires and Over a Thousand Outages

New Continuous Monitoring Center Strengthens Grid Safety, Speeds Emergency Response and Saves Customers Millions

OAKLAND, Calif., May 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- May is Wildfire Awareness Month and today Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) unveils its new Continuous Monitoring Center (CMC), a first-of-its-kind centralized hub that continuously "takes the pulse" of PG&E's electric system to detect risk early, prevent wildfires and strengthen reliability for customers.

The Continuous Monitoring Center in San Ramon brings together people, data and advanced machine learning from tens of thousands of sensors installed across PG&E's electric grid, combined with data from its smart meter network consisting of approximately 5.5 million meters that are scanning grid conditions. By analyzing this data continuously, trained experts can identify emerging issues—often before customers are impacted—and dispatch crews to take action before those issues escalate into wildfires or outages.

Much like a smart watch alerts you to changes in your health, the Continuous Monitoring Center analyzes signals across PG&E's electric system and flags abnormalities that require attention.  Machine-learning models scan for patterns that indicate potential risks, allowing PG&E to move from reacting to incidents to preventing them altogether.

Proven Results: Fewer Ignitions, Less Outages, Faster Response

In 2025, the continuous monitoring capabilities delivered measurable results for customers and communities, including:

• Intercepted 17 potential ignitions in high fire-risk areas
• Avoided 12 million minutes of unplanned customer outages
• Reduced emergency outage response time by 2,620 hours
• Saved approximately $6 million in operational costs

Building on these early results, PG&E established the Continuous Monitoring Center to bring these capabilities into a single, integrated operation, allowing for faster analysis, stronger coordination and more proactive risk detection to further enhance safety and reliability.

"The threat of wildfire requires more than incremental improvement, it demands a different kind of vigilance," said Mark Quinlan, PG&E's Senior Vice President of Wildfire, Emergency and Operations. "With the Continuous Monitoring Center, we're adding another layer of protection, using predictive intelligence from millions of data points across our system, to spot problems forming before they become emergencies. The results are clear: faster detection, quicker action, a safer grid and real cost savings for the customers we serve. We are also actively sharing what we've learned with utilities and industry peers around the world."

A "Good Catch" That Prevented a Potential Fire

For example, the Continuous Monitoring Center team of engineers caught an issue, which they describe as a "good catch", on the Brunswick 1106 circuit in Nevada County. The machine learning model identified a possible wiring issue and, after traveling to the location, an electric troubleshooter found melted insulation at the transformer caused by degraded connections because of severe weather-related stress. Crews replaced the transformer and other associated equipment before an ignition could occur. Had an ignition resulted, it could have led to a 17-acre wildfire, potentially damaging two or three structures and causing up to $1.4 million in losses. Since 2025, PG&E has recorded 1,484 good catches.

Advanced Technologies Working Together

The CMC analyzes data from multiple cutting-edge technologies deployed across PG&E's systems, including:  

• Early Fault Detection Sensors – Radiofrequency (RF) monitoring that identifies partial discharge, arcing, and insulation breakdown, across 900 circuit miles in high fire-risk areas—acting like a "check engine light" for the grid. 
• GridScope Devices – Pinpoint the location and nature of issues across 1,350+ circuit miles in high fire-risk areas allowing for quick response and remediation.
• Downed Conductor Detection – Enable fast identification of the location and cause of disturbances across 1,350+ circuit miles, supporting quicker response and targeted repairs.
• SmartDetect – Uses SmartMeter™ data and machine learning to monitor grid performance, identify patterns and anomalies that may indicate emerging risks.
• Distribution Fault Anticipation Sensors – Identify small system disturbances across 8,900+ circuit miles that enable proactive maintenance to prevent outages or risks before they occur.
• Line Sensors – Detect changes in electric current patterns that help crews locate issues faster and determine root causes for more effective repairs across 19,000+ circuit miles.
• Grid Data Analytics & Technology Platform – Integrates incoming sensor and outage data across PG&E's electric grid into a single system to help identify trends, prioritize preventative work and inform faster decision-making.

Together, these capabilities, anchored by the Continuous Monitoring Center, are redefining how PG&E identifies and addresses wildfire risk before it becomes an emergency. PG&E is identifying and addressing hazards earlier, faster and more precisely. It marks a fundamental shift from reactive response to proactive detection and prevention, just as the next wildfire season begins.

The Continuous Monitoring Center is the latest addition to PG&E's multiple layers of protection and wildfire mitigation, which include undergrounding, Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS), Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), AI-enabled wildfire cameras and more. To learn about PG&E's wildfire safety efforts, visit pge.com/wildfiresafetyprogress.

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.

SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company