PSPS outages
A Public Safety Power Shutoff, or PSPS, is a planned outage: PG&E turns off power lines on purpose during high-risk fire weather. Westhaven Power designs home battery systems, built around Tesla Powerwall and Enphase, so Northern California homes keep running on their own power when the grid goes dark.
The shutoff, explained
PSPS stands for Public Safety Power Shutoff. It is a planned outage: PG&E de-energizes power lines on purpose during dangerous fire weather, so its own equipment cannot spark a wildfire.
That makes a PSPS different from a storm outage. Nothing broke. The grid is working exactly as designed, and the design is to cut your power when conditions on the utility's side turn risky: high winds, dry ground, low humidity. Power comes back after the weather passes and crews inspect the lines. The timeline belongs to PG&E, not to you.
PG&E aims to give you one to two days of warning before a shutoff, by automated call, text, and email, though a fast-moving forecast can shrink that notice to the same day. Account holders get those alerts automatically, and anyone can sign up for Address Alerts to get warnings for any address, like a parent's home or a child's school. During an event, pge.com/pspsupdates carries the current shutoff maps and restoration estimates.
Fire country
Northern California is fire country, and the grid was built across it. The electricity that reaches your meter can travel a long way, and when any stretch of that line runs through an area under fire-risk weather, PG&E can shut the whole line down.
That is why your lights can go out on a clear, calm evening: the danger that triggered the shutoff may be miles from your house. Whether your home sees PSPS outages, and how often, comes down to which lines feed it. Neighbors on different circuits can have different nights.
PG&E called six PSPS shutoffs in 2024 and has kept calling them since, including a June 2025 event that turned off power to more than 16,000 homes and businesses across 19 counties.
Your own power
You stop depending on the line. A home that makes and stores its own power rides through a shutoff on its own supply. Westhaven Power has completed more than 10,000 solar and battery installations across Northern California in 15+ years, all with in-house crews.
Battery first
For most homes this is the answer. Tesla Powerwall and Enphase batteries store the power your panels make, take over the moment the grid drops, and recharge every day the sun comes up. We design around the loads you actually need to keep running.
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Some homes run medical equipment, pump their own water, or face long outage seasons. For those homes we install Kohler backup generators, and we always show you both paths before you decide.
Explore backup generatorsNot sure which path fits your home? See your options or see every service we install.
Questions
Public Safety Power Shutoff. It is a planned outage: PG&E turns off power lines on purpose during dangerous fire weather so its equipment cannot spark a wildfire. The shutoff ends on the utility timeline, not yours.
No. A storm outage means something broke. A PSPS is a decision: the utility de-energizes lines ahead of risky weather, and it decides when the power comes back. Your home can be shut off even when the dangerous conditions are miles away.
That is exactly what we design it to do. We size Tesla Powerwall and Enphase systems around the loads you care about, from the essentials up to whole-home backup, and Power Guard monitoring watches every system we install 24/7.
Most homes do better with solar plus a battery: no fuel, no noise, and it recharges every day. Some homes truly need a generator, like those running medical equipment or well pumps, and for those we install Kohler. We show you both paths first.
We work across Northern California from our Yuba City headquarters: the Yuba-Sutter area, Redding, Chico, Sacramento, and the Bay Area. If you are not sure whether we reach you, call 866-575-4112 and ask.
How it works
Every path for your home, in plain English. No pressure, no homework dodged.
Your roof, your usage, your goals. Never a template.
Our crew installs it. Power Guard watches it around the clock. The utility company stops making the rules.
