More than 4,700 SDG&E customers across San Diego County were left without electricity as a cluster of unplanned outages hit Rolando Village, Torrey Pines, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Pala, Pauma Valley and Jamul. Yesterday, nine separate outages remained active near Solana Beach, Del Mar, Pala, Pauma Valley and Jamul, with some customers going several hours without power before crews began restoring service.
The outages, blamed on equipment damage or an unknown cause, were tracked in real time through SDG&E's outage map, according to FOX 5 San Diego and KUSI News. In Pauma Valley, nearly 900 people remained without power after an outage was reported around 4 PM yesterday, and by that evening, restoration crews had reached only about half of all affected customers countywide.
Estimated restoration times varied widely by neighborhood. SDG&E projected power would return to the Pala area by 6 AM today, while customers near Del Mar and Solana Beach were told to expect service back between 2 and 3 AM today. In Jamul, the utility estimated restoration around midnight, per the same report.
Tracking Outages In Real Time
Residents looking to check on restoration progress can consult SDG&E's outage map, which the utility overhauled in April with address lookups, ZIP code filters, real-time restoration steps and weather overlays, according to San Diego Gas & Electric. The updated tool was built on cloud infrastructure designed to handle traffic spikes when outages hit multiple neighborhoods at once. SDG&E also announced last week that it will run a service-area-wide test of its emergency notification systems on September 1 to make sure residents get timely alerts during future blackouts and Public Safety Power Shutoffs.
Sunday's outages are the latest in a string of multi-neighborhood blackouts that have rattled San Diego County throughout 2026. Earlier in August, an unplanned outage cut power to nearly 2,900 customers across Clairemont, Bay Park and Pacific Beach, while a surprise weekend outage in July knocked out service for over 3,000 customers in Grantville, Allied Gardens, Del Cerro and Mission Gorge.
What Drivers Should Do When Signals Go Dark
When power outages knock out traffic signals, California law requires drivers to treat the intersection as an all-way stop. Under California Vehicle Code § 21800(d)(1), motorists approaching a dark intersection must come to a complete stop before proceeding, according to guidance published by the City of Los Banos. On state routes, Caltrans notes that signals typically run on battery backup for about three hours before switching to a red-flash mode for another three to six hours, then going completely dark if the outage stretches on.
Grid Strain Meets Rising Rates
The recurring blackouts come as SDG&E works to modernize a grid serving roughly 3.7 million people across 1.49 million electric meters spread over 4,100 square miles of San Diego and southern Orange counties. The utility operates 21 battery storage and microgrid sites capable of storing 335 megawatts, with more than 49 additional megawatts in development to help re-energize circuits when larger transmission lines fail. SDG&E has also reported that more than 350,000 residential customers, roughly a quarter of its base, now generate their own power through rooftop solar.
Those reliability investments arrive alongside a proposed rate hike. In July, SDG&E presented energy stakeholders with a plan for an estimated 8.6% monthly bill increase in 2028, part of an 18-month regulatory review with the California Public Utilities Commission covering revenue requirements through 2031, according to KPBS. Under CPUC General Order 166, an outage is classified as a major event when 10% or more of an investor-owned utility's customers lose power simultaneously, triggering a mandatory incident report to regulators within two hours.
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