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Southern California Edison outlines wildfire plan, defends PSPS use after winter outages
Summary
A Southern California Edison representative told Loma Linda officials the utility is investing in grid hardening, covered conductor and targeted undergrounding to reduce wildfire risk, defended use of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) during January winds and acknowledged communications gaps that left some customers in the dark.
Southern California Edison told the Loma Linda City Council that the dramatic PSPS outages in January were driven by unprecedented wind events and that the utility is expanding investments to reduce wildfire risk.
Mark Cloud, identified by the council as the presenter from Southern California Edison, said the company is prioritizing three areas: grid hardening (fire‑resistant poles and cross arms), covered conductor (a sheath that reduces sparking), and targeted undergrounding. He said those efforts, combined with new telemetry and sectionalizing technology, will let the utility isolate smaller pockets of risk rather than cutting power to large swaths of customers.
Cloud described the January wind event as unusually severe — he said gusts reached triple‑digit speeds that made embers travel long distances — and defended PSPS as a last‑resort tool used to prevent the kind of catastrophic fires seen in recent years. “PSPS is one tool in our toolbox,” Cloud said, adding that the company consults weather data, on‑the‑ground telemetry and meteorologists inside its EOC in Irwindale before the final decision is made.
Cloud also acknowledged problems in outreach and outage mapping during the event. He said SCE relies on email, text and a citizen-facing outage map and encouraged customers to sign up for text alerts. He described steps the company plans to take after a “hot wash” review of the response and urged residents who rely on medical equipment to enroll in the utility’s medical‑baseline program (which requires verification from a medical provider).
The presentation also listed customer programs to reduce vulnerability during outages: up to five $150 rebates for portable battery power stations for eligible accounts in high‑risk tiers, $200–$600 rebates for portable generators depending on income, incentives for home batteries and information about commercial microgrid programs. Cloud said some generators that had appeared in the utility’s online marketplace could not be shipped to California because of CARB emissions rules, a factor that constrained purchases during the outage.
Council members pressed Cloud on several points, including why neighboring homes experienced different outage outcomes, how the outage map works, and whether grid hardening had been performed on nearby easements. Cloud said distribution circuits — the local lines in neighborhoods — present the highest risk because they are lower and more likely to contact vegetation and other objects, and he described efforts to inspect infrastructure with helicopters and drones and to replace wooden components with synthetic materials.
The council did not take action on the presentation. Council members thanked Cloud for the briefing and emphasized the need for clearer communication to vulnerable residents during future events.
