Thousands of people across San Diego County spent part of the weekend without air conditioning after unplanned power outages swept through several neighborhoods during a stretch of extreme heat, with some residents going as long as 19 hours in the dark. The outages knocked out electricity starting Saturday evening, leaving families scrambling to keep food and medicine cold while they waited, often with little explanation, for crews to restore service.
According to NBC 7 San Diego, the outages left thousands without air conditioning during the hot weekend, and SDG&E described them as rotating outages meant to maintain the overall stability of the electric system. The utility was careful to distinguish the incident from its Public Safety Power Shutoffs, which had separately been put in place over fire-risk concerns tied to extreme heat and wind. Residents said the outages began Saturday evening with little to no information from SDG&E about why the power was out or when it might return.
Kearney Mesa Resident Describes a Sleepless, 19-Hour Ordeal
Ana Brik, who lives in Kearney Mesa, said her power was out for more than 19 hours before it finally came back early the next morning. She said the heat kept her up all night, and that she believes at least 19 houses, and possibly more people beyond her block, lost power along with her. Brik said she had medicine that requires refrigeration, so she bought ice and used a cooler to keep it cold while she waited.
When Brik reached out to SDG&E, a representative told her the utility could not say when power would come back on but that crews were working on it. Frustrated by the lack of updates, she called for more transparency from the utility going forward and said she worries the same kind of outage could happen again.
Encanto Family Loses Hundreds in Spoiled Groceries
Across town in Encanto, Jose Garcia said his neighborhood's outage started Saturday night and stretched into the morning. He estimated that roughly $300 to $400 worth of groceries spoiled in his refrigerator and freezer overnight. Garcia also said the outage was not listed on SDG&E's outage map for hours, something he felt should have been flagged sooner.
Both Brik and Garcia eventually got their power back, and both told the station they worry a repeat outage is possible given the ongoing heat. SDG&E, for its part, has said that extreme heat continues to affect electric service in some communities and that crews are responding to reported outages, directing customers to check its outage website for the latest restoration updates, per San Diego Gas & Electric.
Grid Under Strain as Heat Wave Lingers
The utility has said prolonged extreme temperatures can increase energy demand and contribute to outages like the ones Brik and Garcia experienced, and that sustained heat and high energy use can create additional constraints on the Southern California electric system. Those strains aren't new this season: the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that SDG&E set an all-time single-day peak net system load of 5,209 megawatts on Sept. 9, blowing past the previous record of 4,890 megawatts set back in September 2014. SDG&E spokesperson Alex Welling told the Union-Tribune that when overnight temperatures stay warm and residents keep running air conditioners, the system doesn't get a chance to cool down, which puts extra strain on the grid and can trigger unplanned outages.
That same stretch in September saw 29 unplanned outages reported between midnight on Sept. 8 and midnight on Sept. 9, affecting nearly 15,000 customers before crews restored power, the Union-Tribune reported. SDG&E has continued urging customers to take part in reduce-your-use and conservation programs, calling them critically important whenever the utility faces power-supply issues.
The weekend outages also arrived as the broader heat emergency has continued to unfold. The National Weather Service issued an extended Extreme Heat Warning for parts of San Diego County running through Oct. 8, according to Times of San Diego. Days earlier, SDG&E had initiated Public Safety Power Shutoffs in specific communities because of the combination of extreme heat and Santa Ana winds, as reported by KPBS. With the heat warning still in effect for several more days, SDG&E has said it will continue monitoring the extended period of extreme temperatures as residents like Brik and Garcia hope their neighborhoods don't go dark again.
