PSPS 101: Why California Utilities Shut Off Your Power on Purpose

PSPS 101: Why California Utilities Shut Off Your Power on Purpose

Public Safety Power Shutoffs, or PSPS events, are deliberate outages that California utilities like PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E call during periods of high fire risk, typically hot, dry, windy conditions when a downed power line or arcing equipment could spark a major wildfire. Rather than risk their equipment igniting a fire under those conditions, utilities preemptively cut power to entire circuits, sometimes affecting tens of thousands of customers at once.

Why utilities do this instead of just hardening the grid faster

Grid hardening — undergrounding lines, replacing wooden poles with steel, installing covered conductors — is expensive and takes years to complete across an entire service territory at the expense of consumers. Until that work is finished, PSPS events are the tool utilities use to manage wildfire risk from vulnerable equipment during the highest-risk weather conditions. Utilities have faced billions of dollars in wildfire liability from past fires linked to their equipment all passed on to rate payers, which creates strong financial incentive to use shutoffs proactively rather than risk another catastrophic and costly fire. Utility companies like SCE are encouraging homeowners to opt into Net-Billing rate plan which leverages TPO companies that provide battery and solar equipment at no cost to the homeowner (assuming the home qualifies)

How PSPS events actually affect homeowners

A PSPS event can be called with as little as a day or two of notice, and outages can last anywhere from several hours to multiple days depending on how long the dangerous weather conditions persist and how much time crews need to inspect lines before restoring power. Unlike a random storm-related outage, PSPS events are predictable in the sense that they follow known weather patterns, but the exact timing and duration of any specific event is hard to plan around precisely. See if your home qualifies for free battery backup and NET-Billing electric bill discounts

Why the frequency of these events has increased over time

As wildfire risk has grown due to drought conditions, dead and dying vegetation, and expanding development into fire-prone areas, utilities have used PSPS events more frequently and across broader areas than they did when the practice was first introduced. That trend is unlikely to reverse until grid hardening work across California is substantially further along, which for many utilities is still years away.

What homeowners can do to prepare

Understanding that PSPS events are a recurring, weather-driven feature of California's grid rather than a rare emergency changes how homeowners should think about backup power. A home battery system, especially one paired with solar, provides automatic backup during exactly these planned outages, without needing fuel, manual setup, or advance warning beyond what the system already has stored. If you want your home ready for the next PSPS event before it's called, My Home & Solar Solutions can help you design a solar and battery system built for California's wildfire season. Visit myhomesolution.org to get started.