I don't understand why anyone living there wouldn't consider having a natural gas powered backup Generac/similar generator as standard. If it's the case natural gas is an issue due to restrictions on pipelines, etc. that would definitely suck. Power in the midwest goes off rarely, but spending what about half of a pinball machine costs for the "just in case" was worth the investment for me and my family. From the outside looking in it seems PGE is in a no win situation - leave the power on and lines goes down and cause more fires they're screwed, turn them off to be preventative and they are blamed as well.
Bottom line should be individuals having done all they can to mitigate what "can" happen - a backup generator should be considered a normal expense with owning a house.