power outages

By Miriam Raftery

January 20, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) – Cal Fresh is offering up to one month of benefits to replce food lost due to a power outage or natural disaster—but you must apply within 10 days of food loss.

 That news comes as welcome relief for residents in rural East County, where some have lost power multiple times recently due to planned public saety power outages by SDG&E to prevent wildfires, as well as from other causes.

You can qualify for replacement food cost benefits if you had food spoilage due to:

• A power outage lasted longer than four hours
• Utilities were shut off for any reason
• A freezer or refrigerator stopped working

To apply, download a Replacement/Affidavit/Authoriization Form (CF-303) at https://SDHunger.org/replacement-calfresh . More details below.

To submit your form, you can either walk it into your local Health and Human Services office, contact a local CalFresh Application Assistance Provider at https://sdhunger.org/calfresh-assistance, or submit the form online at https://GetCalFresh.org/docs.

Questions?  If you need help finding or filling out the correct form, submitting your request, or have other questions, contact one of the following local CalFresh  Applicant Assistance Providers at:

4058 Willows Rd.,Alpine 91901, phone (619)445-1188 exdt. 543

36350 Church Rd., Campo 91906, phone (619)445-1199 ext.545.

Source: SDG&E

January 6, 2025 (San Diego)  – Due to extreme fire weather conditions and forecasted Santa Ana winds, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) has notified 64,866 customers that it may have to turn off power to reduce wildfire risk as early as Tuesday. Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) are approved by state regulators as an important safety tool of last resort to mitigate fire risk during dangerous weather conditions. 

This week marks the driest start to the rainy season in San Diego County in 174 years. As a result of these dry conditions and expected Santa Ana winds, the National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for parts of Orange and San Diego Counties beginning Tuesday evening through late Wednesday night. SDG&E’s meteorology team is closely monitoring weather conditions. 

Power shutoffs are possible in the following areas:

• Alpine
• Barona Reservation
• Boulevard
• Campo
• Campo Reservation
• Capitan Grande Reservation
• Chula Vista
• Descanso
• East San Juan Cap
• El Cajon
• Escondido
• Fallbrook
• Jacumba
• Jamul
• Julian
• La Jolla Reservation
• La Mesa
• La Posta Reservation
• Lakeside
• Los Coyotes Reservation
• Manzanita Reservation
• Mesa Grande Reservation
• Pala
• Pala Reservation
• Pauma and Yuima Reservation
• Pauma Valley
• Pechanga Reservation
• Poway
• Ramona
• Ranchita
• Rancho Bernardo
• Rancho Santa Fe
• Rincon Reservation
• San Diego
• San Pasqual Reservation
• Santa Ysabel
• Santa Ysabel Reservation
• Santee
• Sycuan Reservation
• Valley Center
• Viejas Reservation
• Warner Springs

SDG&E has activated its Emergency Operations Center and staffed it with key personnel to monitor weather conditions throughout the duration of the event, especially the wind speeds in the high fire risk areas of the county. 

If SDG&E implements a PSPS for public safety, it will open Community Resource Centers to support impacted customers.   

Given the potential for extended power outages, SDG&E encourages customers to be prepared. Outage preparedness tips can be found at sdge.com/outage-center; safety guidelines for generator use can be found at sdge.com/generator.    

Never approach a downed line; report it by calling 911 or SGD&E’s call center at 800-411-7343.

Real-time information about unplanned power outages can be found at www.sdge.com/outage.  

Updates about this PSPS can be found at sdge.com/Ready and SDGEToday.com or by following SDG&E’s X channel, @SDGE.