Dial 811 Before Any Excavation Project SAN FRANCISCO, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- April is safe digging month, and as people plan various garden and home improvement projects this spring, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) reminds customers to always call 811 before digging. Whether it's planting a tree, installing a sprinkler system or building a fence, homeowners and professional excavators need to know where gas and electric lines lay underground. The 811 hotline is a free service to obtain important information on what utilities exist beneath the excavation area. Natural gas pipelines, electric power lines and other utilities buried underground can lie within just a few feet of the surface. Accidental contact with these lines can be dangerous and even fatal. California law requires customers to notify utilities at least two working days before digging. Calling 811 puts customers in direct contact with Underground Service Alert (USA), a free utility notification service for anyone who plans any type of excavation project, no matter how small. Customers can call USA from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, except for holidays. Accidental damage to utility lines can disrupt gas and electric service to an entire neighborhood, cause significant property damage and lead to serious injury. USA notifies local utility companies to go out and mark the approximate location of their underground facilities in and around the excavation site. When underground lines are marked, customers can avoid them and prevent serious accidents from occurring. In addition to calling 811, PG&E offers these other tips for a safe excavation: -- Call 811 at least 2 working days prior and up to 14 days in advance of an excavation -- Customers will receive a list of notified utilities that may have underground lines in the area. If you believe a utility may not have marked their lines, call 811 again to notify USA -- On paved surfaces, mark the proposed excavation area with white chalk-based paint. Homeowners can also use other white substances such as sugar or flour. -- On unpaved surfaces use flags or stakes to mark the proposed excavation area -- Carefully hand excavate within 24 inches on either side of a utility-marked facility -- Be careful not to erase facility marks while working. If you cannot see the markings, call 811 and request a remarking -- 811 requests are active for 28 days. Notify USA if work continues beyond that time -- Immediately notify utilities about any type of contact or damage to its wires or pipes -- If there is any type of damage to PG&E electric wires or gas pipelines, or if there is a possible gas leak, take these steps: -- Move to a safe location -- Call 911 -- Call PG&E at 1-800-743-5000 Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of , is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to 15 million people in northern and central California. For more information, visit http://www.pge.com/about/. DATASOURCE: Pacific Gas and Electric Company CONTACT: External Communications Department of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, +1-415-973-5930 Web Site: http://www.pge.com/

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