California lowers the heat threshold that decides if your power can be shut off during a heat wave

The new rule on whether your power can be shut off during a heat wave

A resident wondering whether their power can be shut off during a heat wave in California now has a new number to watch. On July 16, 2026, the California Public Utilities Commission, the state agency that regulates privately owned electric utility companies called investor owned utilities, voted 4 to 0 to lower the shutoff threshold from 100 degrees Fahrenheit to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Once a forecast crosses 90 degrees, the vote bars Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric from disconnecting a residential customer for nonpayment.

The old rule only blocked a shutoff once forecast temperatures topped 100 degrees within 72 hours. Utilities missed a May 1, 2026 deadline to propose a tougher standard themselves, so the commission wrote a stronger one.

The new number is still not the strictest already in place. San Francisco defines extreme heat above 85 degrees, and Del Norte County defines it above 76.8 degrees. 41 of the 58 counties in California already used a threshold below 100 degrees before this vote.

Utilities now have 6 months to replace the single statewide number with a region specific standard, built on CalHeatScore, a state tool that scores heat risk by ZIP code on a scale from Level 0 to Level 4. Utilities wanted a Level 3 cutoff, backed by 100 degrees. Advocates wanted Level 2, backed by 90 degrees. The 90 degree number now stands as the interim statewide backup while that region specific version gets built. Meya Saenz Zagar, an energy justice campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity Climate Law Institute, called the change a milestone.

This is a truly groundbreaking decision that should be a model for other states and will absolutely save lives in California.

Meya Saenz Zagar, energy justice campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity Climate Law Institute. Source 1.

Not every power company in California has to follow the new 90 degree number

The commission only regulates investor owned utilities, so the rule binds only Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric, not every power company in California. The same commission proceeding, numbered R.18-07-005, independently names those 3 companies as the utilities its disconnection rules cover. That gap matters inside the Coachella Valley. Southern California Edison serves Palm Springs, the valley largest city, so Palm Springs customers gain the 90 degree protection directly. Part of the rest of the valley, including Indio, La Quinta and Thousand Palms, is served instead by the Imperial Irrigation District, a public power agency the commission does not regulate. No source checked for this article states that the district adopted a matching rule. That gap is a MAOWCE reading of those facts, not a sentence any single source states directly, and it means the Coachella Valley now splits into 2 different rules depending on which utility serves a given address.

In 2025, the 3 largest investor owned utilities in California disconnected customer power for nonpayment more than 422,000 times, a roughly 33% increase from 2024, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, based on its own analysis. Pacific Gas and Electric alone shut off power nearly 46,000 times in 2024. Jason Zeller, an attorney with the Utility Consumers Action Network, described what a shutoff can set off for the people it hits.

When electricity is shut off to a home, it can have a sort of a cascading effect of problems on tenants.

Jason Zeller, an attorney with the Utility Consumers Action Network. Source 2.

For a Coachella Valley resident checking whether their power can be shut off during a heat wave this summer, the answer depends on which company sends the bill. Southern California Edison customers get the new 90 degree protection now. Imperial Irrigation District customers have no confirmed matching rule.