The article doesn't explicitly set out why PG&E is doing this: California's completely insane policy on legal liability for wildfires. When things get dry enou

The article doesn't explicitly set out why PG&E is doing this: California's completely insane policy on legal liability for wildfires. When things get dry enough, pretty much any source of ignition will end up with large swathes of the countryside set ablaze. Whoever or whatever initially set things off is liable for 100% of the resulting damage, even if it's billions of dollars. So when the choice is between providing power for a few tens of thousands of people and risking billions of dollars of liability, the decision is obvious for the power provider - shut things down, and let some other spark get blamed for starting the inevitable wildfire. Note that this isn't socially optimal, since the conditions for conflagration are still present, and things will almost certainly get set off anyhow. It just removes the possibility of blaming PG&E for it.