By Miriam Raftery

December 6, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Tonight SDG&E has shut off power due many areas across East County and North County due to “an extreme weather event with high winds and dry conditions,” according to SDG&E’s website, which warns, “Current conditions indicate that power may remain out for several days before it can be safely restored. If your power is out, please be sure you have adequate emergency supplies on hand for an extended period of time and check here for the most current information on expected restoration times.”

The action comes just days after the California Public Utilities Commission ruled that SDG&E cannot bill ratepayers for its uninsured losses from the 2007 firestorms, when state regulators found its power lines responsible for three major fires.

The prolonged shut-off, though intended to prevent fires and protect public safety, could also put rural residents at risk if they cannot access emergency information in an outage, since some areas lack reliable cell phone service.   Long outages also mean residents are likely to lose refrigerated foods through spoilage and those with electric water pumps are left without means to provide water for livestock, unless they have invested in a generator and whoever is home knows how to operate it.  In some areas of the county it's cold; the outage leaves people unable to run space heaters, electric hot water heaters, electric blankets, electric ovens or stoves for cooking.

It is unclear if the outage includes commercial areas. But if shops and stores are left without power in the holiday shopping season, they could lose out on major revenues. Restaurants without power for days could have major losses from food spoilage and lack of customers.

This incident raises the question of how long an outage is reasonable, and how long is too long. Can the utility shut off power for weeks, or even months?  Should more be done to prevent the need for extended outages and if so, what? Or should outages, however, lengthy, be permitted despite local inconvenience to protect the broader region from powerline-sparked conflagrations? These are questions for the California Public Utiliites Commission to consider.

Below is a list of communities with current outages; more are possible in the coming hours and days, with a red flag warning in effect through Saturday due to extreme fire danger:

Unplanned

Communities Affected: Live Oak Springs/ Boulevard/ Jacumba

Circuit Affected: 0445

Customers Out: 348

Start Time: Dec 06 8:20 PM

Estimated Restoration: Dec 10 4:00 PM

Outage Status: We've turned off the power for safety.

Unplanned

Communities Affected: Live Oak Springs/ Boulevard/ Jacumba

Circuit Affected: 1215

Customers Out: 11

Start Time: Dec 06 8:17 PM

Estimated Restoration: Dec 10 4:00 PM

Outage Status: We've turned off the power for safety.

Unplanned

Communities Affected: Viejas/ W Descanso/ Boulder Creek

Circuit Affected: 0079

Customers Out: 85

Start Time: Dec 06 8:24 PM

Estimated Restoration: Dec 11 4:00 PM

Outage Status: We've turned off the power for safety.

Unplanned

Communities Affected: Live Oak Springs/ Boulevard/ Jacumba, Japatul Valley/ Buckman Springs/ Morena Village

Circuit Affected: 0441

Customers Out: 75

Start Time: Dec 06 7:40 PM

Estimated Restoration: Dec 10 4:00 PM

Outage Status: We've turned off the power for safety.

Unplanned

Communities Affected: Live Oak Springs/ Boulevard/ Jacumba

Circuit Affected: 1215

Customers Out: 11

Start Time: Dec 06 8:17 PM

Estimated Restoration: Dec 10 4:00 PM

Outage Status: We've turned off the power for safety.

Unplanned

Communities Affected: Live Oak Springs/ Boulevard/ Jacumba, Japatul Valley/ Buckman Springs/ Morena Village

Circuit Affected: 0441

Customers Out: 75

Start Time: Dec 06 7:40 PM

Estimated Restoration: Dec 10 4:00 PM

Outage Status: We've turned off the power for safety.

Unplanned

Communities Affected: Live Oak Springs/ Boulevard/ Jacumba

Circuit Affected: 1215

Customers Out: 11

Start Time: Dec 06 8:17 PM

Estimated Restoration: Dec 10 4:00 PM

Outage Status: We've turned off the power for safety.

Unplanned

Communities Affected: Live Oak Springs/ Boulevard/ Jacumba

Circuit Affected: 0445

Customers Out: 348

Start Time: Dec 06 8:20 PM

Estimated Restoration: Dec 10 4:00 PM

Outage Status: We've turned off the power for safety.

Unplanned

Communities Affected: Valley Center/ Rincon/ Pauma Valley, Rincon/ La Jolla Indian Res/ Hellhole Canyon, La Jolla Indian Res/ Mesa Grande/ Santa Ysabel, Palomar Mountain/ Lake Henshaw

Circuit Affected: 0214

Customers Out: 362

Start Time: Dec 06 8:16 PM

Estimated Restoration: Dec 09 11:00 AM

Outage Status: We've turned off the power for safety.

Unplanned

Communities Affected: Rainbow/ Rice Canyon/ Pala Mesa Village

Circuit Affected: 1233

Customers Out: 1

Start Time: Dec 06 4:39 PM

Estimated Restoration: Dec 07 4:00 PM

Outage Status: Our crews have found a need to repair SDG&E equipment.