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Why it’s happening: Edison revisited its high-fire-risk-area maps and concluded that another 130,000 customers should fall into the risk zone where the utility may decide to roll out a public safety power shutoff, according to Brian Chen, Southern California Edison’s vice president of project and field engineering. At the same time, the state is coming off of two wetter-than-average years, during which vegetation has grown, increasing fire risk in many regions as those plants can become fuel during dry months .

What are the effects? Communities that have never been hit by public safety power shutoffs are experiencing them for the first time in 2025. That’s led to complaints from some rural residents who have been caught off guard by days of blackouts that left them overheate

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