The medical baseline program in California promises a power outage notice and a bill discount, not a personal warning

What the medical baseline program in California actually promises before a power outage

San Diego Gas and Electric runs a medical baseline program in California, part of a statewide California Public Utilities Commission rule, for residents who depend on medical equipment or have a qualifying medical condition. Enrolling gives an eligible resident 2 separate things, a discount on the power bill and a place inside the utility power outage notice chain, not a personal warning issued only to that household. A customer on an untiered electric rate gets a 20% discount on electric charges. A customer on a tiered rate instead keeps more electricity priced at the lowest tier, a different benefit rather than a smaller version of the same discount.

To qualify, a resident needs a doctor certified medical condition or a piece of equipment the program lists. Qualifying conditions include a compromised immune system, hemiplegia, multiple sclerosis, paraplegia, quadriplegia and scleroderma. Qualifying equipment includes oxygen generators, CPAP machines, dialysis machines, respirators and motorized wheelchairs. Heating pads, humidifiers and pool heaters do not qualify.

The 2 separate promises San Diego Gas and Electric actually makes

San Diego Gas and Electric states that it will always attempt to notify a medical baseline customer in advance of what it calls a state directed power outage, without stating how many hours of notice that means. Anyone in a life threatening situation is told to call 911 rather than rely on that notice. Reading the utility medical baseline page and its separate public safety power shutoff page directly shows 2 different promises, not 1. The medical baseline page promises only an unnumbered attempt at advance notice. The separate shutoff page gives an actual numbered timeline, but applies it to every affected customer in a shutoff area, not to medical baseline households alone.

That numbered timeline is the real one a medical baseline household falls under. San Diego Gas and Electric begins notifying customers who could be affected by a possible shutoff, medical baseline households and critical facilities such as hospitals among them, about 48 hours before power is cut. Further notices follow about 24 hours, about 12 hours, and again 1 to 4 hours before the shutoff. Hospitals, police and fire stations, communications services and water providers get advanced communication because they need more assistance planning around an outage. That additional communication is not extended to individual medical baseline households on the same page.

The statewide program behind San Diego Gas and Electric rules

This is not a San Diego Gas and Electric invention. The California Public Utilities Commission runs the medical baseline allowance as a statewide program through 4 investor owned utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Gas Company. Its rules trace back to a 2012 ruling that first let utilities shut off power to prevent wildfires. A Phase 1 decision in May 2019 added notification rules for medical baseline and other vulnerable customers, and a Phase 3 decision in June 2021 continued those protections. A California resident applies using the same qualifying conditions and devices San Diego Gas and Electric lists, through a form currently dated March 2026.

How often a resident has to reapply depends on the condition. A resident with a permanent qualifying condition files a self certification form every 4 years. A resident with a condition that is not expected to be permanent instead files a new physician certified application every 2 years, half the wait before the paperwork comes due again.