CHARM Roadmap: Power outages

As changes in climate drives more extreme weather—like heatwaves, droughts, and wildfires—power outages are becoming more common. Power outages are increasingly linked to climate in several key ways:

• Extreme weather events

  • Wildfires, storms, and flooding can damage power infrastructure, leading to unplanned outages.

• Increased risk of preventive shutoffs

  • Hotter, drier, and windier conditions raise wildfire risk.
  • Utilities may use Public Safety Planned Shutoffs (PSPS) or Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) to prevent equipment from sparking fires, leaving residents without power during high-risk periods
  • Unlike PSPS, EPSS are unplanned and do not provide residents with advanced warning.

• Strain on energy infrastructure

  • Rising temperatures increase electricity demand for cooling while stressing aging power systems.
  • This can lead to grid overloads and blackouts, especially during prolonged heatwaves.

Impacts of power outages

While power outages are not climate-driven events (CDEs), they may be caused by such events and they may exacerbate the effects. Power outages may impact human health and safety by:

• Preventing indoor heating or cooling
• Disrupting communication (e.g., television, radio, internet, cell service interruption)
• Interfering with the use of needed durable medical equipment
• Causing food to spoil
• Spoiling medications that require cooling

Populations at risk

While everyone using public power is at risk for power outages, individuals who face increased vulnerability during power outages include:

• Seniors, homebound, and disabled persons are at risk of health impacts from temperature variations due to lack of heating or cooling capability
• Those relying on durable medical equipment
• Those with limited communication options
• People relying on refrigeration for medicine

Power outages have and continue to significantly impact Lake County residents. Between 2018 and 2020, Lake County experienced several large-scale PSPS events initiated by PG&E to reduce wildfire risk.

• In October 2018, approximately 12,136 customers lost power.
• In late October 2019, two major PSPS events impacted nearly all of the county’s 37,441 customer accounts.
• In October 2020, another shutoff affected around 22,706 customers, continuing the trend of widespread outages during high fire-risk conditions.

These outages have impacts and the household and broader community level. For example, PG&E reported that the October 2018 outage impacted 19 schools, 19 health care facilities, and 80 water agencies.

Survey responses

• 91% of respondents had experienced a power outage lasting between 1–5 days. For 12%, the event lasted more than 6 days.

• During power outage events, the top resource needs identified by participants included:

  • Help cooling homes in high heat (28%)
  • Access to air purifiers (19%)
  • A place to breathe clean air (18%)
  • A place to cool off, such as a cooling center (16%)

• Many respondents also lacked critical support for health and caregiving, including:

  • Ways to keep medication cold (9%)
  • Power for medical equipment (8%)
  • Transportation to a hospital or medical provider (8%)
  • Someone to check on vulnerable loved ones (9%)

Community voices

"I was very impressed when we've had some fires that... when we had the PSPS, [our seniors] were prepared for them. You know, we make sure they have little chargers. You know, we handed those out to make sure, I'm hoping they all still have those... And then PG&E, all the people that had medical needs, made sure they can get their little generators so that they can keep their equipment going. So we really encourage them to apply for that kind of stuff."

"I know that we had partnered one time with PG&E as as a PSPS services location area where they provided flashlights, water, snacks and blankets. It's weird that they gave out blankets... there was, you know, some snacks and a cool place to sit, and even had brought out a couple of cots for people that wanted to maybe lay down for a while. I thought that was very nice. My mom did utilize that and and lay down and and rested."

"I knew how to run evacuation centers.. So, [in a] PSPS, we can set those up, like, in just minutes... We've learned how to get them all set up and and, you know who to contact. Foods etc. is always good. ...They bring me over a truckload of water before I ... could get open...we're connected with the Red Cross now very well too."

"[In a] PSPS, [you can use] PG&E to look up your address, which is pretty basic. You just put in your town... but sometimes it's daunting. So a lot of our elders who don't use the internet, they're lucky enough, for those that live on the Rancheria that they have Sarah [Ryan] to provide notices, sometimes even [Social Services will] just go door to door."

Expand access to backup power Work with partners to connect residents- especially those with medical needs, mobility challenges, or low incomes- to programs that provide portable batteries, backup generators, or solar-powered systems. Community resilience centers should be equipped with reliable backup power to serve as safe, accessible shelters during outages. Organizations can help residents navigate PG&E’s generator and battery rebate and Medical Baseline programs or coordinate bulk purchasing and grant opportunities for backup power solutions.

Promote resilient homes Support outreach and assistance programs that help households retrofit homes to better withstand outages and extreme heat. Encourage passive cooling solutions like improved insulation, reflective roofing, shading, and ventilation- particularly in mobile and manufactured homes. These improvements can keep indoor temperatures safer and reduce reliance on powered cooling.

Support community microgrids Advocate for and help implement community-based microgrids that combine renewable energy and battery storage to keep essential facilities- like resilience hubs, health clinics, and emergency shelters- operational during outages. These systems can serve entire neighborhoods or critical services and reduce reliance on the centralized grid.

Improve communication and early notifications Develop bilingual, culturally-appropriate outreach campaigns to inform residents before and during outages. Use social media, local radio, text alerts, and trusted community messengers to ensure everyone receives timely and accurate information. Encourage residents to sign up for PG&E’s PSPS notifications, which provide 1–2 days of advance warning so residents can prepare for power loss.

Strengthen partnerships with utilities Collaborate with PG&E and other utilities to identify local infrastructure vulnerabilities and advocate for targeted upgrades in high-risk areas. Ensure that resource distribution and outage response efforts are equitable, especially in communities that are rural, isolated, or disproportionately impacted by recurring shutoffs.

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