California power outage map
Where the power is out across California right now, and how long your food has while yours is off.
Right now 964 customers are without power in California, across 24 counties reported by 2 utilities, according to the US Department of Energy's ODIN feed. Of the California outages publishing an estimated restoration time, the median is about 6 hours.
Power out at your place? Work out how long the food in your fridge and freezer has.See what's still good964
Customers out
24
Counties affected
2
Utilities reporting
California
964 customers out · 24 counties
Live data from the US Department of Energy's ODIN feed, which carries 62 reporting utilities rather than every utility in the country. If yours isn't here, check your utility directly or poweroutage.us. Updated every 10 minutes.
You can have electricity at home in an outage.
It takes less than most people assume. Provision Planner works out what covers a night, a week or a month of your own power, and shows how close you already are.
Already own a battery? See how long it would actually run your fridge. Thinking about panels? See how many months solar would cover.
Reporting in California
- Southern California Edison Co963 out
- Pacificorp1 out
Of the California outages carrying an estimate right now, the typical one is due back in about 6 hours. 24 of 24 give one.
What takes the power out in California
- WildfireWhat to have ready before it happens
- EarthquakeWhat to have ready before it happens
Most affected right now
Outage maps by state
What an outage in California is actually like
In California the outage is often scheduled, and that changes everything
California is the state where a dark house most often means someone chose it. During fire weather, high wind against low humidity, the big utilities proactively de-energize lines through a Public Safety Power Shutoff, and they generally aim to give customers notice roughly a day or two ahead. Almost nowhere else works this way. It is worth internalising because it inverts the usual advice: everywhere else, preparation happens months early because the outage arrives without warning. Here you frequently get a window. Used well, that window is worth more than any amount of stored food, because a refrigerator that has been turned down to its coldest setting for a day beforehand, and a freezer packed tight, hold dramatically longer than ones caught at normal settings.
What to do with the notice when you get it
The pre-outage hours are the whole game. Turn the refrigerator and freezer to their coldest settings well in advance so the mass inside is as cold as it can be. Fill empty freezer space with water containers, because a full freezer holds cold far longer than a half-empty one and the ice is drinking water afterward. Charge everything, including the things you forget, and fill the car. Then stop opening the doors. California PSPS events are often measured in a day or two rather than a week, which is squarely inside what a well-prepared freezer handles and well outside what an unprepared refrigerator does.
The outage and the smoke usually arrive together
The conditions that trigger a shutoff are the conditions that start fires, so Californians are unusually likely to be sheltering with the windows shut against smoke at the same moment the power is off. That rules out the normal hot-weather workaround of opening the house up at night. It also means any air purifier is dead weight unless it is on a battery, and that cooking indoors on a camp stove, already a bad idea for carbon monoxide reasons, is worse in a sealed house. Food that needs no cooking is worth more in California than in most states for exactly this reason.
The power is out. Here's how long your food has.
The USDA gives a closed refrigerator about four hours, a full freezer roughly 48 and a half-full one 24. Tell it how long you've been out and it does the rest. Longer version in how long a freezer stays cold without power.
Freezer is
Refrigerator
1h
USDA gives a closed fridge about four hours.
Freezer, full
1d 21h
A full freezer holds roughly 48 hours unopened.
Do this, in order
- Right nowKeep both doors shut. Every opening spends time you can't get back.
- Next mealEat from the fridge first: leftovers, dairy, anything already opened.
- If you're on a wellNo power means no pump. Fill containers and the bathtub now if you haven't.
- PhonesDrop to low power mode and stop using them as torches. Your car is a charger.
These timers assume you know what's in there. Keep the count in Provision Planner and the answer is about your actual food.
The other deadline
Everything gets harder after dark.
6:35 PM
Sunset in California tonight. Find what you need before then, not by the light of the phone you are trying to save.
Before it goes
- Count your lightHeadlamps before flashlights, because you need your hands. Find them and test the batteries while you can still see to do it.
- Your car is a chargerA running engine refills phones and power banks. Outside only, never in an attached garage, and not with the door open either. That is how carbon monoxide kills people in outages.
- Ration the phonesA 20,000mAh bank is roughly four full phone charges. Put one phone on low power mode as the household's line and switch the rest off.
The next questions, answered
How do I know if my outage is a planned shutoff or a fault?
Planned shutoffs come with notice, usually by text, call or email a day or two ahead, and utilities publish the affected areas in advance. An outage that arrives with no warning during calm weather is a fault. The live county view above shows what is being reported right now either way.
How long do public safety shutoffs usually last?
Commonly a day or two, because the line has to stay de-energized until the wind drops and crews can inspect it before re-energizing. That is well within what a full freezer handles if you prepared during the notice window.
How long will the power be out in California?
Of the California outages publishing an estimated restoration time right now, the median is about 6 hours. 24 of 24 reported outages give an estimate at all, so treat it as a rough middle rather than a promise. Figures come from the Department of Energy's ODIN feed and refresh every 10 minutes.
What should I do in the first hour of a power outage?
Find your light before dark, because hunting for a headlamp by phone screen burns the battery you are about to need. Leave the fridge and freezer shut. Charge phones and power banks now if you have a car or a battery, and run the car outside, never in an attached garage, even with the door open. Then check whether your utility has posted an estimate, which the map above pulls in for you.
What can I still run when the power is out?
More than most people assume. A mid-size power station will hold phones, a router and lamps going for days, and a car with the engine running is a charger. A fridge is the hard one: the compressor asks for roughly 800 watts for a split second to start, so a small station that only surges to 600 will not turn it on at all. Heat is the other one. Anything that warms a room empties any battery within the hour.
How long does food last in a refrigerator without power?
The USDA gives an unopened refrigerator about 4 hours and a full freezer roughly 48, half that if the freezer is only half full. Food with ice crystals still on it can be refrozen. Every time the door opens the clock speeds up, so write down what is in there instead of looking twice.
How many days of power does my household actually have?
Add up what already makes light and power in your house: batteries, lanterns, power banks, a generator and the fuel for it. Provision Planner counts those the way it counts food and water and turns them into a number of days for the people who live there, then tells you the cheapest thing to add next. Most households have more than they think in the first day and less than they think by the third.
We'll help protect you next time.
Outages are common, and they can feel out of control. With Provision Planner, real preparedness and independence mean you can avoid that completely. We help normal families everywhere stay one step ahead.