Southern California Edison has cut power to hundreds of thousands of its customers this year, more than ever before, as it attempts to stop its electric lines from sparking wildfires.<\/p>\n
The utility has told communities in fire-prone areas in recent weeks that they should expect more of the power shutoffs than in prior years and that the outages could last for longer periods of time.<\/p>\n
The Rosemead-based company said it had lowered the wind speed that triggers the blackouts, and added tens of thousands of customers to the areas subject to them, after the devastating Jan. 7 Eaton fire. The inferno, which killed 19 people in Altadena, ignited in high winds under an Edison transmission line.<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cYou should be ready for the power to cut off at any moment,\u201d Ian Anderson, a government relations manager for Edison, told the Moorpark City Council at an October meeting. He urged residents to buy generators and said the utility doesn\u2019t reimburse customers for spoiled food and other losses if it believes the blackouts were required by \u201can act of God.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut PSPS is not an act of God,\u201d responded Moorpark Councilmember Renee Delgado, using the acronym for public safety power shutoffs. \u201cIt\u2019s a choice SCE is making.\u201d<\/p>\n For more than a decade, California utilities have used the shutoffs to stop their equipment from sparking fires. The intentional outages have become so established in California\u2019s wildfire prevention plans that Edison now faces lawsuits saying that it failed<\/a> to shut off some of its lines before the Eaton fire.<\/p>\n Yet in recent months, the utility has heard a chorus of complaints from communities including Moorpark and Malibu that it is blacking out customers even when the winds are calm. And the utility often has failed to warn people of the coming outages, making it impossible for them to prepare, according to filings at the state Public Utilities Commission.<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys have put us into a Third World situation,\u201d Scott Dittrich, a resident of Malibu, said at a Sept. 30 meeting that the city had with Edison to address the shutoffs.<\/p>\n Kathleen Dunleavy, an Edison spokeswoman, said the company recognizes that \u201cany power outage is a hardship.\u201d<\/p>\n But the outages are needed because they have prevented fires in dangerous weather, she said. \u201cOur commitment is to keeping our communities safe,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n This year, Edison has cut off 534,000 customers to prevent fires, according to data it filed with state regulators. That\u2019s almost four times the 137,000 customers subject to the blackouts in 2024.<\/p>\n Under state rules, utilities can use the outages only as a measure of last resort \u2014 when the risk of electrical equipment igniting a fire is greater than the dangerous hazards the blackouts cause. <\/p>\n Disconnecting a neighborhood or city can cause far more than just inconvenience. <\/p>\n Traffic lights no longer work, causing perilous intersections. During a Dec. 10 outage in Moorpark, a utility truck failed to stop at a nonworking light on State Route 118, crashing into a sedan. The driver was injured and had to be extracted from the truck by emergency responders, according to the city\u2019s report to state regulators.<\/p>\n The shutoffs also leave residents who have medical problems without the use of needed devices and refrigerators to store medications.<\/p>\n And they can cut off communication, stopping residents from getting evacuation warnings and other emergency messages.<\/p>\n