To protect your privacy and safety we treat your Rotating Outage Group as confidential information. This practice makes it harder to perform illegal acts such as burglaries when your area is affected by a rotating outage. For the same reason we do not provide Rotating Outage Groups to you for other customers. If you want to stay abreast of the rotating outage status of another customer, such as a relative or your child's school, ask them for their Rotating Outage Group, which they may share at their discretion.

Although they are often used interchangeably in the media, these terms have distinct meanings we use to refer to the curtailment of normal electrical service. "Group" applies to Stage 3 Emergencies (see glossary below) when clusters of customers are subject to rotating outages. Rotating outage groups are designated with a letter and 3 numbers, for example, A001. "Block" is used in relation to our interruptible rate options for large commercial and industrial customers. Customers on these rates receive lower energy and demand charges in return for being interrupted at our request. When a Stage 2 Emergency (see glossary below) is declared, blocks are interrupted to meet the load specified. Blocks are designated with letters only.

Your Rotating Outage Group is located on your bill. Summary Bill customers will find this information in the "Details" portion of their bill. As soon as the California Independent System Operator notifies us of a pending outage, we post the information on our website.

Most of our circuits are subject to these rotating outages. Only those circuits that serve “Essential Use Customers” who provide critical public health, safety, and security services (such as large hospitals and police stations) are exempted from these outages. All remaining circuits are arranged into groups that represent all customer types (i.e., residential, commercial and industrial) and are dispersed throughout our 50,000-square-mile service area.

We have identified the circuits available for use in rotating outages according to California Public Utilities Commission rules. A circuit is a set of electrical lines that supply power to a combination of residential and/or commercial customers within a given geographical area. These circuits have been arranged into groups. The amount of power the California Independent System Operator designates for curtailment will determine the number of groups that are interrupted at any one time. The groups will be interrupted, as operating conditions permit, and each outage is expected to last about one hour. At the end of the hour, service will be restored to the affected groups and the next groups on the list will be interrupted to maintain the amount of load requested by the CAISO. Once a group has been used in a rotating outage, it is moved to the bottom of the list.

As soon as the Stage 3 Emergency is declared, we will contact the news media, especially radio and television stations, which are encouraged to broadcast the news immediately. Because we may have as few as 10 minutes after a Stage 3 Emergency is declared before we begin rotating outages, individual notifications are not possible. You can also contact us at 1-800-611-1911 to find out whether your neighborhood is part of a current controlled outage. 

Rotating outages can become necessary when the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) declares a statewide Stage 3 Emergency (see glossary below). Under these circumstances, without rotating power outages on a relatively small scale, a widespread disturbance to the electric grid could occur, which would lead to uncontrolled, large-scale outages.

Set all of the lights in the off position except for one. Leaving a light on will let you know when electricity has been restored.

Turn your thermostat to low and turn off the circuit breaker for your water heater. This will reduce a high demand for electricity when the power returns, and help prevent an overload that can cause the circuit breaker to trip again.

If it begins to cool down in your home, cover windows with blankets or cardboard to help prevent drafts. Identify the most insulated room in advance; that's where you and your family can best stay warm.