Power Outage Board
Power outages in Montecito and Santa Barbara: the record.
How long the average customer in Montecito and Santa Barbara went without power in 2025, how many times and why, from Southern California Edison's own reliability report, with the years before it and every wind shutoff filed since.
Montecito and Santa Barbara at a glance
- About 2.6 hoursSanta Barbara, 2025, without wind shutoffsAbout 153 minutes, derived from Edison's figures (p. 5).
- About 2.9 hoursSanta Barbara, all outages, 2025174.5 minutes, 12.2% of them wind shutoffs. Edison, City of Santa Barbara, p. 4.
2025 in context
2025 in Santa Barbara, in its own numbers.
Wind shutoffs were 12.2% of Santa Barbara's 174.5 minutes in 2025 (Edison, City of Santa Barbara, p. 5). Without them, about 153 minutes, about 2.6 hours (derived from Edison, City of Santa Barbara, p. 4). For comparison, total minutes in 2022 to 2024 were 110.8 to 263.3 minutes.
The largest cause in 2025 was equipment failure (a transformer, switch or line failing in service), 49.0%.
Edison reports the unincorporated 1st District separately. The largest share of the unincorporated 1st District's 2025 time was Edison's wind shutoffs: 44.4% of 457.0 minutes (Edison, Unincorporated Santa Barbara County, 1st District, p. 5). The rest comes to about 254 minutes, about 4.2 hours, derived from Edison, Unincorporated Santa Barbara County, 1st District, p. 4. For comparison, total minutes in 2022 to 2024 were 161.2 to 299.1 minutes.
For the regional picture: across Edison's whole system, 15 of 2025's 21 major event days were in January, 13 of them wind shutoffs, and without those days the average Edison customer lost 116.37 minutes, about two hours (Edison 2025 report, Tables 1 and 2, p. 3 and p. 4).
The last 12 months
Wind shutoffs in Santa Barbara since November 2025.
In Santa Barbara County, Edison switched off circuits in events including July 15, July 22, August 25 and September 25, 2026. Edison's filings with the CPUC.
On the night of September 28, 2026, Edison switched off three segments of the Stanwood circuit, which its 2025 report lists among the circuits serving the City of Santa Barbara and unincorporated 1st District: 1,376 customers, from 10:13 p.m. until between 10:50 and 11:31 a.m. on September 29. The Ashley circuit (108 customers, 1st District) went off at the same minute and came back by 10:52 a.m. Edison report for the September 25, 2026 event, event data workbook, table SCE-03; circuit lists, Edison city and district reports, p. 7.
Four years
Minutes without power in Montecito and Santa Barbara, 2022 to 2025.
The average customer, each year, against Edison's whole system.
Minutes without power per customer. Edison, City of Santa Barbara, p. 4; wind shutoff share, Edison, City of Santa Barbara, p. 5; Edison system, same page.
Minutes without power per customer. Edison, Unincorporated Santa Barbara County, 1st District, p. 4; wind shutoff share, Edison, Unincorporated Santa Barbara County, 1st District, p. 5; Edison system, same page.
| Year | Santa Barbara | Unincorporated 1st District | Edison |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 174.5 | 457.0 | 545.0 |
| 2024 | 142.7 | 161.2 | 158.3 |
| 2023 | 263.3 | 299.1 | 115.9 |
| 2022 | 110.8 | 194.0 | 131.1 |
Outages per customer in 2025: Santa Barbara 1.7, Unincorporated 1st District 2.4; Edison 1.4. Edison, City of Santa Barbara, p. 4. Edison, Unincorporated Santa Barbara County, 1st District, p. 4.
Why it went out in 2025
Outage causes in Montecito and Santa Barbara, 2025.
In Montecito and Santa Barbara, Edison's 2025 report splits the outage minutes by cause. The three largest shares, in Edison's categories:
- 49.0%equipment failure (a transformer, switch or line failing in service)
- 14.6%other (the line was patrolled and no cause was found)
- 12.7%weather, fire or earthquake
- 44.4%Edison wind shutoffs (PSPS)
- 26.6%equipment failure (a transformer, switch or line failing in service)
- 12.1%other (the line was patrolled and no cause was found)
Santa Barbara
Unincorporated 1st District
Edison, City of Santa Barbara, p. 5. Edison, Unincorporated Santa Barbara County, 1st District, p. 5.
Where this fits
Montecito and Santa Barbara on the board.
This page is one place on County Line's Power Outage Board, the outage record for every town in the company's service area across Ventura, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties.
For the electrical work County Line does in Montecito and Santa Barbara, see the Montecito and Santa Barbara service area page. For backup power, start with standby generators, then wind shutoffs, heat wave outages and what stays on.
Reading the record
What do the minutes mean?
The minutes are Edison's SAIDI figure: the total minutes the average customer in that town was without power during the year, counting every outage longer than five minutes. Edison counts its wind shutoffs and major storm days in it and leaves out scheduled maintenance outages. Outages per customer (SAIFI) is how many of those outages the average customer had.
What does "without wind shutoffs" mean?
The without wind shutoffs figure is derived from Edison's own figures: the town's 2025 minutes times one minus the share Edison attributes to wind shutoffs on its causes chart (p. 5 of each city report). Thousand Oaks: 1,814.5 minutes times 17.0% is about 308 minutes. Edison does not publish that figure itself.
Why was 2025 so much longer than other years?
2025 ran long mostly because of wind shutoffs in January. Edison had 21 major event days in 2025 and 15 of them were in January, 13 of them wind shutoffs (Edison 2025 report, Table 2, p. 4). Without those days, Edison's 2025 average was 116.37 minutes, about two hours.
Has Edison shut off power in the last 12 months?
No Edison wind shutoff de-energized a customer in Ventura County. Edison notified Ventura County public safety partners during the November 9, 2025 and September 25, 2026 events, and switched nothing off there. In Los Angeles County, Edison de-energized circuits in the August 25 and September 25, 2026 events. None of them is on Edison's 2025 circuit lists for Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Westlake Village, Malibu, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills or unincorporated 3rd District (Topanga). In Santa Barbara County, Edison switched off circuits in events including July 15, July 22, August 25 and September 25, 2026.
Why do some Los Angeles neighborhoods show LADWP figures?
Pacific Palisades, Bel Air, Brentwood, Encino, Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Tarzana and Woodland Hills are City of Los Angeles neighborhoods served by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, not Edison. LADWP reports one figure for its whole system, so those pages show that figure.
What keeps a house on when the grid goes off?
A standby generator with an automatic transfer switch carries a house for days on natural gas or propane. A battery covers the first hours silently. Designed together, with solar and the panel, they make a residential microgrid. County Line designs, installs and services all of it.
Where the numbers come from
Edison's own filings, and the state's.
Every figure on this page is read from these public documents. County Line does not estimate outages.
- Edison: 2025 reliability report, City of Santa Barbara (PDF): minutes and outages 2022 to 2025 on p. 4, 2025 causes on p. 5, its 37 circuits on p. 7.
- Edison: 2025 reliability report, Unincorporated Santa Barbara County, 1st District (includes Montecito and Summerland) (PDF): minutes and outages 2022 to 2025 on p. 4, 2025 causes on p. 5, its 29 circuits on p. 7.
- Southern California Edison: reliability reports by city and county: one report per city for 2025. Minutes and outages per customer for 2022 to 2025 on p. 4, the 2025 causes on p. 5, the circuits on p. 7. Minutes include wind shutoffs and major storm days and leave out scheduled maintenance.
- Edison Annual Electric Reliability Report, 2025 (PDF): system averages and the ten-year average (Table 1, p. 3) and the 21 major event days (Table 2, p. 4), filed with the California Public Utilities Commission.
- CPUC: utility PSPS post-event reports: Edison's report for each wind shutoff, with circuits, customers and times in its event data workbooks (table SCE-03).
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861: LADWP's 2025 reliability figures. LADWP Wildfire Mitigation Plan: no wind shutoff protocol.
- Edison: maintenance outages: planned work and the advance notice.
- The Right now box: the California Office of Emergency Services power outage feed (from the utility outage maps, read every few minutes) and National Weather Service alerts. Outages and restoration estimates are also on the Edison outage map and the LADWP outage map.
Next step
Keep the house on in Santa Barbara.
Name, phone, city and the generator you have, or the house you want covered. The office calls back to schedule.
Or call (805) 499-0823. Monday to Friday, 9 to 5.