PG&E has allocated an extra $600,000 for reliability projects to reduce the number and length of power outages in the city.

"During the last five years we've noticed a higher rate of outages for Saratoga," PG&E spokesperson Jeff Smith said. "We noticed there was a problem and we wanted to take steps to fix it before we started getting a lot of complaints."

Vice Mayor Norman Kline said Saratoga's location in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains makes the city vulnerable to power outages. "It's a hillside area and hillsides tend to have these kinds of problems with power lines and trees," he said.

Improvements are meant to help PG&E crews respond faster when outages occur. Protective devices will be installed to isolate Saratoga from outages when a fault is detected outside the city. Automation will allow for remote operation and faster restoration times.

"You can never eliminate outages altogether because of storms and other acts of nature," Smith said. Repairs and upgrades are an attempt to make outages less frequent, he said. "A variety of projects will be taking place over the next several months. A large portion of this is making the system more automated. In a lot of cases we'll now be able to repair problems remotely."

Smith said Saratogans can expect to see a 23 percent reduction in power outage duration and an expected 53 percent reduction in customers being out of power when interruptions occur. PG&E staff also expects to see a significant decrease in the time it takes for crews to make an area safe and restore power.

"What we're doing is making an investment in Saratoga and trying to be ahead of the curve in making these improvements now proactively," Smith said.

"We're pleased that they're making the upgrades because we certainly don't want to be vulnerable to power outages," Lorie Tinfow, assistant city manager, said.