Among the hardest hit by last week's storm were residents of the San Geronimo Valley, some of whom lived without electricity for eight days.

Many were outraged with PG&E, blaming the utility's slow response for leaving them without heat and warm water, and with refrigerators full of rotting food.

"The severity of the storm, the strength of the wind, the computer break-down, are just not good excuses," said Lagunitas resident Jean Berensmeier. "There was an enormous amount of people left to fend for themselves."

Woodacre resident Zoila Berardi, who lost power last Monday when a falling tree ripped the power line from her house, complained, "From a personal standpoint, I believe that I did more to restore power than PG&E did." She and her son have been clearing limbs from around power lines.

Throughout the storm and the following week she repeatedly called PG&E's 1-800 number, only to hear pre-recorded messages telling her that all circuits were busy.

When she finally reached a PG&E operator, she was told that the fallen line in her yard was dangerous and that nobody should touch it. The operator assured Berardi that her line would be put on the priority list for repairs.

However, as of Wednesday, Dec. 20 - nine days later - the line was still hanging across the Berardi's yard.

"I think that a company as large as PG&E should have it more together," she said. "Their performance during this storm was crummy."

The power outage also hurt some small business-owners in the Valley.

"I'm trying to earn a living in the land that PG&E forgot," said Forest Knolls resident Daniel Kehoe, whose Fortuity Webmasters designs World Web sites on the Internet for the clients in the publishing industry.

Kehoe, who works out of his home, estimates that he has lost five days of work so far this year because of power outages.

Steve Woodward, line and maintenance director for PG&E's North Bay division, insisted that the lengthy black-outs in the San Geronimo Valley were due to the intensity of the storm.

"The damage we sustained was equal to, or greater than the damage caused by the storms of January and March together," he said, noting that West Marin was hit hard because the area is so heavily forested.

Most of PG&E's problems in West Marin were caused by branches and uprooted trees falling through lines, he said.

"We had crews out the whole time, beginning on December 12," Woodward explained.

Marie Gaynot-Murphy, a public affairs representative for PG&E, added that PG&E had a total of 50 crews working in Marin, where typically they have only 5.

But this was of little consolation for Berensmeier, who took the PG&E to task for poor communication with customers.

"At a meeting with Steve Woodward earlier this fall, we were told that PG&E improved its call center and added 250 more operators. Well, the call center idea simply didn't work," she said.

"It was a fiasco. We were getting pre-recorded messages that were 2 or 3 days old. PG&E was not accessible for people that were in trouble," Berensmeier added.

Gaynot-Murphy explained that PG&E installed a new phone system after the January and March storms. "But at the height of this storm, two million people called in," she said. "The system just couldn't handle the volume. It's one thing to get the technology in place, it is another to perfect it."

Asked if PG&E is going to improve the system, Gaynot-Murphy responded, "Absolutely. That's a guarantee."

Many Valley residents blamed the poor service during the storms of January, March, and now December, on utility layoffs. PG&E shrunk it's statewide payroll by 3,000 employees in 1994.

But PG&E's Woodward denied that there had been any layoffs. Positions were lost through attrition, and many employees left voluntarily with severance pay or retirement packages.

However, Nicasio resident Mike Lipskin, a lawyer and jazz pianist and attorney, remained skeptical.

"PG&E's performance has never been as good as the years before they started systematically laying off workers in anticipation of deregulation," he said.

"They just haven't been doing a proper job," Lipskin continued. "They have slowed preventative maintenance. They used to tree-trim every summer as a matter of course. They also used to check the poles on a regular basis and replace the ones that were rotting...

"Then they laid off those workers, and at the same time, lowered their budget for tree-trimming activities. They are not providing the same level of service they did in the early 1980s."

PG&E's Woodward noted that the California Public Utilities Commission is investigating the utility's staffing levels, and that PG&E itself "is currently measuring what the right staff level is for this area."

Jean Berensmeier was among those looking to state commissioners for a solution.

"They have to put PG&E on the carpet," she said. "The public is being fed excuses. PG&E keeps saying, 'We're doing the best we can.' [The commission] needs to ensure that PG&E is looking after the public's interests."