Thousands of California residents will have no power. How the medically vulnerable will be impacted

Oct. 12—Strong, gusty winds have prompted Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to shut off power to thousands of customers across Northern and Central California, with people reliant on electricity-powered medical devices disproportionately impacted.

Severed from electricity, elderly individuals and people reliant on electrical medical devices — motorized wheelchairs, ventilators, respirators, apnea monitors and more — often experience the worst impacts of these wildfire safety blackouts, which leave thousands scrambling to secure emergency oxygen tanks, find backup generators or conserve dwindling battery power.

As has become an almost annual ritual during California's intense and prolonged fire seasons, fueled by climate change and in part by problematic power lines, Disability Rights California are fielding a growing number of calls from residents who need assistance during power shutoffs.

"It's not just spoiled food," said Samuel Jain, a staff attorney at Disability Rights California. "The impact of these power shut offs is great, particularly on the disabled community."

The RAND Corporation estimated in 2019 that there were at least 176,483 people in California dependent on electricity for their medical treatment.

Only about a quarter of older adults who use essential electricity-dependent medical equipment had access to an alternative source of power in the event of an outage, a 2019 National Poll on Healthy Aging survey found.

Around the country, power outages have led to deadly consequences. Earlier this year in Texas, at least 210 people died due to extreme temperatures or power outages during a sudden and intense February winter storm, according to state officials. (Buzzfeed News estimates at least 700 people were killed, with many of the undercounted victims including people who were medically vulnerable.)

And this summer, 17 of the 26 people killed in Louisiana during Hurricane Ida died from excessive heat or a lack of oxygen during outages, or from carbon monoxide poisoning stemming from the use of a generator.

Public utility companies are required to open community resource centers in areas impacted by power shut offs that offer things like charging stations capable of powering medical devices, cell service, water, restrooms and chairs.

But Jain said not everyone who needs access to those centers during an outage may be able to get there — residents stuck in an apartment without a working elevator, for example.

"It's not the only solution, but I think it could be one part of this support system," Jain said.

Even getting a sense of scale of who's most vulnerable during planned power outages is difficult.

Under the Medical Baseline program, California public utility companies offer people with special energy needs due to certain medical conditions not only cheaper rates, but also additional notices of power shutoffs.

Utility companies have often used this program as a proxy for its most vulnerable customers who need advanced notice on public safety power shutoffs, but Jain said it fall short in tracking who will be severely impacted when the electricity goes out.

"It doesn't include people vulnerable to extreme temperatures, people who need an elevator or lift to exit their home," Jain said. "It doesn't take into account people with medication that needs to be refrigerated, or assisted technology like speech-generating devices."

PG&E estimated that across Glenn, Colusa, Tehama, Butte, Yolo, Solano, Napa and Lake counties, about 1,500 medical baseline customers are affected by Monday's power shutoffs — a figure that Jain said likely obscures the true number of elderly individuals and people with disabilities impacted.

The California Public Utilities Commission is considering additional regulations that would require public utility companies to expand who qualifies for advanced notification and assistance during power outages, including people who live in multi-family homes and use elevators to leave their homes, for example.

Ultimately, Jain said disability rights advocates hope that utility companies such as PG&E, facing heightened scrutiny over its wildfire safety record, will improve its infrastructure so it can withstand higher wind events and not have to shut off power as a precaution in the first place.

"These power shut offs are a Band-Aid," Jain said.

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