PG&E

[m1west]

Last week we had a winter storm with rain and high wind. The power went out in the middle of the night and them came back on around 9am. When it did it fried my cable box, microwave, alarm clock, garage door opener and I just figured out today my washing machine. Everything that was running off the generator with a transfer switch is fine. The worst part is there was a small fire under the washer and I didn't know it until today when the wife went to use it. She turned it on and it actually started filling up then the water ran out of the bottom, when I took the cover off I could see where a electrical component fried and burned a hole in the bottom of the tub as they are plastic now. All the damage never tripped a breaker. I researched on line who is responsible and found you can file a claim that they will likely deny then you have to sew them. In total its a couple thousand. I don't want to turn into homeowners. Anyone ever deal with it?

 

[EastTexFrank]

When we moved here almost 25 years ago it happened 3 times in pretty quick succession. It fried a whole bunch of stuff every time. I "discussed" it with the power company but got nowhere. I asked for their advice and they suggested a whole house surge suppressor which they would install for me and charge a few dollars on my monthly bill. It was about $8, I think. I've had it for so long now that they even dropped the monthly charge a few years back. I haven't lost a darned thing since I've had it. It has to be hard wired in and it sends the excess current to ground. It might be worth looking at.

 

[bczoom]

I dealt with it once in the past (although not with PG&E).
In my case, it wasn't a surge but a low voltage situation (a.k.a. a "Brown Out"). That's when the power supplied is less than what's supposed to be supplied to your house (120V/240V).
IIRC, the power companies are to guarantee that the voltage supplied was within 10% of what's it's supposed to be. Anything higher or lower, they're responsible for damages.
So, I had this "brown out". It fried anything electronic that was running. Non-running electronics weren't affected (this was 20 years ago so no idea how sensitive newer electronics are in this situation).
It took me a little effort to find the right person/department for claims but they did cut me a check for replacing the damaged items.

 

[m1west]

These are the same assholes that don't maintain there equipment to the point it is setting fires all over Ca. Now my homeowners is nearly twice what it was couple years ago, I have never had a homeowners claim ever.