RAMONA, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Thousands of SDG&E customers in San Diego County are under public safety shutoffs in an effort to reduce the risk of wildfires during high wind conditions. However, some residents are raising concerns about the utility company’s decision making and demanding more transparency.
At last check, more than 14,000 customers in Ramona alone are without power, with the utility estimating most won’t have it restored until Friday evening.
Some say the blanket power outages are disrupting daily life without clear justification in some areas.
“The Santa Ana’s come through and winds are this bad if not worse, and they don’t shut the power off and if they do it’s for the worst of it and then they turn it back on,” resident James Ruthledge said.
Rutledge is a local business owner and longtime resident of Ramona. In his 12 years living there, this experience is a first for him.
“It’s not a prolonged event like ‘hey in case there’s wind we’re going to shut off the power,’” he said.
SDG&E implements a public safety power shutoff any time certain conditions are a factor, like dry vegetation and high wind speeds.
The utility company is pointing to widespread wind gusts in its service area of more than 60 to 70 miles per hour, and in some instances, more extreme.
A press release issued Tuesday states its team of meteorologists are monitoring conditions and will restore power when it’s safe to do so.
“Of course the weather and the wind is going to be worse in Campo or Valley Center than it is here right, so why are you shutting off everybody,” Rutledge said.
Rutledge says not having power is a major disruption. He says he was able to buy a generator to keep his fridge and freezer up and running so food doesn’t spoil.
But getting gas for it is challenging with all but two stations in Ramona down because there’s no power.
Mark Sitto owns the Chevron on Main Street.
“it’s almost 40 hours I’m here,” Sitto said.
He says since power was first shut off, people have been lining up to fill up gas cans.
“We have everything for them. We don’t raise the price for the gas. We stay same price for diesel and gas,” Sitto said.
For now, customers like Justin rely on the gas station.
“We’re doing okay. I prepared, pulled out the generator, did an oil change on it. We got tv, Wi-Fi, the refrigerator is on so we’re good to go,” he said.
As far as Rutledge and his family are concerned, they’re working and sleeping in their generator-powered RV.
“If it’s a planned event and you know it has the potential to be prolonged, you have to communicate that,” Rutledge said.
SDG&E encourages its customers to sign up for outage alerts by clicking here. Community Resource Centers will be available to clients affected by a PSPS. These Centers are equipped with resources such as Wi-Fi, phone charging, and medical devices, and are open to the public.
The most up-to-date list of affected communities, as well as Community Resource Center locations and hours, can be found here. Customers can monitor for service disruptions to their area by visiting SDG&E’s outage map here.
