Power Outages
Southern California Edison (SCE) provides electric power to Yorba Linda. Whether an outage is planned, unplanned, or necessary to avoid a disaster, the City of Yorba Linda urges residents to prepare for potential power outages at any time, but especially during summer and fall.
Have You Lost Power in Your Neighborhood?
If the power has gone out in your neighborhood, visit SCE's Outage Center and use the "View Outages" link. If the outage is not yet reported, use the "Report Outage" link to report the issue.
Outage Types
Maintenance Outage
Sometimes SCE may need to shut off your power temporarily to allow crews to perform maintenance and scheduled upgrades to electrical infrastructure safely. This can include replacing aging poles and multiple segments (or even many miles) of underground cables or overhead conductors.
Repair Outage
Unexpected events give rise to repair outages. Whether it’s a car crashing into a utility pole, high temperatures causing energy demand to overload power lines and transformers, severe weather, earthquakes, or something as simple as a metallic balloon caught in a line, an outage may occur.
Public Safety Power Shutoff
One critical tool used to prevent wildfires is the Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS), in which SCE may temporarily shut off power to your neighborhood during dangerous weather conditions to prevent the electric system from becoming a source of ignition. These safety shutoffs are a measure of last resort for keeping you and your community safe. SCE bases PSPS decisions on data gathered from fire scientists and meteorologists forecasting dangerous wildfire conditions and on real-time information from SCE crews in the field. SCE understands that a PSPS event can create hardships for affected customers, and the decision to shut off power is never taken lightly.
Visit SCE.com/PSPS to see if power in your neighborhood is shut off due to a PSPS or is under consideration for one.
Rotating Outage
A rotating outage, sometimes called a "rolling blackout," is a brief, controlled power outage mandated by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). It is enacted by California’s publicly owned utilities, including SCE, to protect the integrity of the statewide electric system by easing demand on the overall electric supply during times of critically high usage, preventing wider, longer power outages. Such an outage is named for the way it alternates evenly throughout our service territory to ensure that no neighborhood is inconvenienced more than any other. It remains rare and lasts only about one hour.
Preparing for Outages
The key to staying safe and comfortable during a power outage is preparation. Planning ahead is easier than you think and the best way to ensure everyone’s safety until the lights come back on.
- First aid kit: Include prescription medications – check the expiration dates.
- Bottled water: Experts recommend a gallon per person per day.
- Flashlights and batteries: Store them where you can find them easily in the dark.
- Nonperishable food: Choose items that don’t require cooking or heating.
- Manual can opener
- Coolers, ice chests, and ice packs: Have a few in case of a lengthy outage.
- Special-needs items: This includes items for infants, the elderly, or the disabled.
- Battery-operated radio: To access news reports.
- Fresh batteries: For all battery-powered equipment.
- External rechargeable battery pack: To charge cell phones and other electronic devices.
- Noncordless phone: To plug into landlines during power outages.
- Keep important phone numbers (fire department, paramedics, police, hospital, doctor, relatives, etc.) where they can be found easily in an emergency.
- Place flashlights in handy locations where they can be found easily in an emergency, including near your bed.
- Install surge protectors to help safeguard electronic equipment.
- Familiarize yourself with your home’s utility boxes (electricity, water, and gas) and how to turn them off; keep the proper tools to do so handy. If necessary, post a note to help you remember how to turn them off in an emergency.
- Frequently back up important work and files on your computer.
- Know how to manually open your automatic garage doors or gates.
- Keep the gas tank or charge level in at least one car half full at all times.
- If you have a portable gas generator, identify an outdoor location where you can safely use it during a power outage, and never use it indoors.
- Make a safety preparedness plan for your family, including a list and location of the above items and a plan for meeting the special needs of infants, the elderly, those with medical needs, and family pets. Share this plan with someone outside your household.
Electronics and appliances can be vulnerable to an outage. Follow these simple procedures to help keep you safe and protect them from damage.
- Unplug household appliances such as televisions, computer equipment, washers, dryers, game consoles, fans, and lights to prevent them from being damaged.
- Use surge protectors to help prevent damage to electronics.
- Turn off all light switches and lamps except for one. Leave one on so you’ll know when power returns.
Perishable foods in your refrigerator and freezer may not be safe to consume after an electric outage, depending on the length of the outage and outdoor temperatures. There are steps you can take steps to make sure your food is still safe to eat once the fridge is running again.
- Keep the refrigerator closed, opening doors only when necessary. Depending on the outside temperature, an unopened refrigerator can keep foods cold enough for several hours. Placing blocks of ice inside will also help keep food cold longer. Check food carefully for signs of spoilage.
- Draw the line at 40 degrees. Perishable foods should not be held above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for more than two hours.
- Coolers and ice chests. For outages lasting more than two hours, food items such as dairy products, meats, fish, poultry, eggs, and leftovers should be packed into a cooler with ice. A separate cooler can be packed with frozen items.
- Canned and dry goods, as well as powdered or boxed milk, can be eaten cold or warmed on a grill.
- Leave a light on when you go to bed. It will wake you when power returns so you can check the condition of your food.
- If you’re not home when a power outage occurs, determine how long the power has been out. Check the internal temperature of perishables in your refrigerator with a quick-response thermometer – any item above 40 degrees should be thrown out. If power comes back on within 24 hours and your freezer is fairly full, your frozen items should be safe. If the refrigerator was out for more than 24 hours, you should get rid of perishables.
Some people depend on uninterrupted power to operate medical equipment in their homes. SCE attempts to notify Medical Baseline customers before maintenance outages and rotating outages. Since SCE cannot guarantee uninterrupted service, residents should always have a backup plan. This could mean a backup power system or other arrangements. SCE provides the following tips:
- SCE's Critical Care Backup Battery (CCBB) program is available at no cost to eligible customers requiring the use of an electrically powered medical device.
- Develop an emergency or backup plan with your medical equipment supplier. Some companies may supply additional medical equipment and other services during emergency situations.
- Keep emergency phone numbers handy in your cell phone contacts and near your landline. This includes your doctor, police, fire, and durable medical equipment company (if applicable).
- Develop a contingency plan to go to another location in the event of a lengthy power outage. Share this plan with family, friends, and others that should be aware.
Learn More
SCE hosts even more preparation information on its website.