Edison’s January 2025 updates separated wildfire damage from preventive shutoffs
Southern California Edison reported changing outage totals during the January 2025 wind and wildfire emergency, distinguishing preventive shutoffs from outages involving storm or fire damage and describing inspection-dependent restoration.
Period covered: 2025-01-15 to 2025-01-17
This report describes the dated record. For services available now, visit local providers.
A January 15 snapshot
At 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2025, Southern California Edison reported 115,709 customers without power because of windstorm, fire damage and/or Public Safety Power Shutoffs. Of those, 97,751 were attributed to preventive de-energizations. These were the company’s reported totals at that time. [1]
SCE said a customer’s power could be shut off because the circuit serving the property passed through a high-fire-risk area, or because it ran through a burn area where damage had not yet been assessed. As a result, a customer outside a high-fire-risk area could still be affected by a shutoff on the wider circuit. [1]
The figures have different reporting times and definitions. They do not track a fixed cohort from outage to restoration or isolate wildfire damage from every other cause.
LACEHH original graphic · Sources: Southern California Edison / Energized.
Inspections guided restoration
On Jan. 16, SCE said winds were subsiding in many areas and reported restoring power to approximately 100,000 customers so far that day. The company said crews would inspect power lines after winds subsided to determine whether it was safe to re-energize them. Once a circuit was cleared for inspection, restoration typically took up to eight hours; damage found during inspection could extend the work. [1]
SCE also said crews had not yet been granted access to some burn-scar areas, or conditions were not yet safe for restoration. The company said it would communicate with affected customers individually as needed. [1]
A later count and continued work
At 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 17, SCE reported 10,500 customers without power out of the roughly 5 million it served. It said 3,500 employees, contractors and mutual-assistance personnel were working in communities. Restoration continued, and SCE was monitoring another wind event that could lead to targeted preventive shutoffs. [1]
The Jan. 15 count, Jan. 16 restoration figure and Jan. 17 count refer to different reporting points and measures. They do not show a fixed group of customers moving from outage to restoration. [1]
Sources & further reading
- Extreme Weather Restoration Update - SCE Updates | Energized by EdisonSouthern California Edison / Energized · 2025-01-17; contains earlier dated updates
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