For up-to-date information before, during, and after the planned outage, please visit the UC Santa Barbara Status Page at https://status.ucsb.edu and subscribe to Facilities Management updates.
UCSB Campus Electrical Outage
Wednesday, December 28th, 9:00 am
Southern California Edison (SCE) must perform some greatly needed maintenance work which effects the power line that supports our campus. This work will result in a planned outage on campus beginning Wednesday, December 28 at 9:00 am. SCE estimates their maintenance work will take approximately one hour. As soon as the work is completed and power has been restored to the campus, teams from UC Santa Barbara Facilities Management and Residential Operations will begin checking and restoring building system(s) functionality (such as elevators, building mechanical systems, Metasys and lighting).
For your safety, we recommend you vacate all non-residential buildings by 9:00 am, Wednesday, December 28.
The planned service interruption will impact UC Santa Barbara properties and facilities only, including all main campus buildings and a number of adjacent housing and dining facilities that receive their electrical power service directly from campus. This map denotes in yellow the buildings and facilities that will be impacted by the power interruption.
Faculty housing in the Ocean Walk and West Campus communities are on separate transmission lines and will not be impacted.
If you have questions or would like to identify areas that may require special attention, please email: poweroutage@fm.ucsb.edu
- Building entrance doors that are controlled by use of an electric card reader will function as normal during the outage as they are battery operated.
- Building fire protection systems will continue to function, however, network connections from building main fire alarm panels will be unavailable for notification to UCSB Emergency Services.
- DO NOT use elevators as they will be non-operational during the electrical outage.
- Many University buildings have emergency generators. These are designed to provide power for life safety systems and critical equipment only (i.e. fire protection systems, standby egress lighting, and medical/life support equipment).
- In most areas, electrical outlets that are on emergency power are designated by their red color.
- Several preparedness procedures for residential customers are recommended by Southern California Edison at this website, and specific to University-operated residential facilities. Please note the following:
- DO NOT use candles.
- Charge your cell phone prior to the power outage.
- Install surge protectors and/or unplug sensitive electrical equipment to help mitigate potential damage when power is restored (e.g. desktop computers, televisions/audio visual equipment, special equipment for the care of infants, elderly, or comfort pets).
- Do not begin a dishwasher cycle until power has been restored.
- Keep your refrigerator/freezer doors closed. See the section below on Refrigeration for more detail.
- It is advised that all personal office equipment be turned off prior to the beginning of the electrical outage. As the outage will be during curtailment, please turn off your personal office equipment when you leave for winter break.
- Desktop computers will not be available during the outage and should be powered down prior to the outage before you leave on winter break..
- The campus core network, Domain Name System (DNS) servers, and internet service will be available during the outage. Individual building network service will vary based on generator power and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) availability.
- G Suite tools (Gmail, Calendar, Drive, etc.) will not be impacted by the outage.
- The campus telephone system will operate on generator and battery back-up power. No disruption is anticipated.
- All blue-light emergency phones and elevator phones will remain operational. However, the respective blue light will not be powered during the outage.
- The campus radio system will operate on generator and battery back-up power. No disruption is anticipated.
- Building access control could be limited and your Access Card may not work.
- Voice Over IP (VOIP) and Panasonic DBS phone systems will be impacted. If you experience issues when power comes back on, contact help@commserv.ucsb.edu.
- Video Security as a Service (VSaaS) aka security cameras could be impacted (except the North Hall Data Center and Library cameras). While service depends on individual building switches and generators, notify your VSaaS provider if you experience issues after campus power is restored.
- The campus chilled water loop will be offline during the outage. Please plan for affected areas to not have continuous cooling.
- Building automated controls will be non-operational during the outage.
- Avoid opening and closing refrigerators to allow units to retain temperatures.
- Most traffic signals on campus will be without power for the duration of the planned outage.
Campus Notifications
TO: Campus Community
FR: Design, Facilities & Safety Services
RE: Campus-wide Power Outage: Wednesday, December 28th, 9 am (4th & Final Notification)
While we recognize there is no good time for a planned power outage, Southern California Edison (SCE) must perform periodic preventative maintenance work on the local power distribution system in order to ensure continued service reliability. These activities will result in a brief power service interruption to the main campus beginning Wednesday, December 28 at 9:00 am. SCE estimates their maintenance work will take approximately one hour. After their maintenance work is complete, we will re-energize campus.
During the outage, power service to the main campus and some student housing will be unavailable. Affected locations and buildings are depicted in yellow on the map below. Faculty housing in the Ocean Walk and West Campus communities are on separate distribution lines and will not be impacted.
We have worked with campus leadership to select a time for the outage that will minimize disruption to campus operations which coincides with curtailment. There are significant considerations related to research, IT, security, and other essential functions that will need to be resolved, and we will continue our outreach effort to identify and address the needs of our campus community.
Additional communications with more details will be issued over the coming weeks as preparation for the outage progresses. For additional information, please visit the Planned Power Outage webpage. If you have questions or would like to identify areas that may require special attention, please email: poweroutage@fm.ucsb.edu. If you would like to receive updates (email or text) before, during and after the scheduled event, as well as, other campus disturbances, visit status.ucsb.edu and subscribe.
We appreciate your understanding as we work to minimize the disruption to our campus.
TO: Campus Community
FR: Design, Facilities & Safety Services
RE: Campus-wide Power Outage: Wednesday, December 28th, 9 am (3rd Notification)
While we recognize there is no good time for a planned power outage, Southern California Edison (SCE) must perform periodic preventative maintenance work on the local power distribution system in order to ensure continued service reliability. These activities will result in a brief power service interruption to the main campus beginning Wednesday, December 28 at 9:00 am. SCE estimates their maintenance work will take approximately one hour. After their maintenance work is complete, we will re-energize campus.
During the outage, power service to the main campus and some student housing will be unavailable. Affected locations and buildings are depicted in yellow on the map below. Faculty housing in the Ocean Walk and West Campus communities are on separate distribution lines and will not be impacted.
We have worked with campus leadership to select a time for the outage that will minimize disruption to campus operations which coincides with curtailment. There are significant considerations related to research, IT, security, and other essential functions that will need to be resolved, and we will continue our outreach effort to identify and address the needs of our campus community.
Additional communications with more details will be issued over the coming weeks as preparation for the outage progresses. For additional information, please visit the Planned Power Outage webpage. If you have questions or would like to identify areas that may require special attention, please email: poweroutage@fm.ucsb.edu. If you would like to receive updates (email or text) before, during and after the scheduled event, as well as, other campus disturbances, visit status.ucsb.edu and subscribe.
We appreciate your understanding as we work to minimize the disruption to our campus.
TO: Campus Community
FR: Design, Facilities & Safety Services
RE: Campus-wide Power Outage: Wednesday, December 28th, 9 am (2nd Notification)
While we recognize there is no good time for a planned power outage, Southern California Edison (SCE) must perform periodic preventative maintenance work on the local power distribution system in order to ensure continued service reliability. These activities will result in a brief power service interruption to the main campus beginning Wednesday, December 28 at 9:00 am. SCE estimates their maintenance work will take approximately one hour. After their maintenance work is complete, we will re-energize campus.
During the outage, power service to the main campus and some student housing will be unavailable. Affected locations and buildings are depicted in yellow on the map below. Faculty housing in the Ocean Walk and West Campus communities are on separate distribution lines and will not be impacted.
We have worked with campus leadership to select a time for the outage that will minimize disruption to campus operations which coincides with curtailment. There are significant considerations related to research, IT, security, and other essential functions that will need to be resolved, and we will continue our outreach effort to identify and address the needs of our campus community.
Additional communications with more details will be issued over the coming weeks as preparation for the outage progresses. For additional information, please visit the Planned Power Outage webpage. If you have questions or would like to identify areas that may require special attention, please email: poweroutage@fm.ucsb.edu. If you would like to receive updates (email or text) before, during and after the scheduled event, as well as, other campus disturbances, visit status.ucsb.edu and subscribe.
We appreciate your understanding as we work to minimize the disruption to our campus.
TO: Campus Community
FR: Design, Facilities & Safety Services
RE: Campus-wide Power Outage: Wednesday, December 28th, 9 am
While we recognize there is no good time for a planned power outage, Southern California Edison (SCE) must perform periodic preventative maintenance work on the local power distribution system in order to ensure continued service reliability. These activities will result in a brief power service interruption to the main campus beginning Wednesday, December 28 at 9:00 am. SCE estimates their maintenance work will take approximately one hour. After their maintenance work is complete, we will re-energize campus.
During the outage, power service to the main campus and some student housing will be unavailable. Affected locations and buildings are depicted in yellow on the map below. Faculty housing in the Ocean Walk and West Campus communities are on separate distribution lines and will not be impacted.
We have worked with campus leadership to select a time for the outage that will minimize disruption to campus operations which coincides with curtailment. There are significant considerations related to research, IT, security, and other essential functions that will need to be resolved, and we will continue our outreach effort to identify and address the needs of our campus community.
Additional communications with more details will be issued over the coming weeks as preparation for the outage progresses. For additional information, please visit the Planned Power Outage webpage. If you have questions or would like to identify areas that may require special attention, please email: poweroutage@fm.ucsb.edu. If you would like to receive updates (email or text) before, during and after the scheduled event, as well as, other campus disturbances, visit status.ucsb.edu and subscribe.
We appreciate your understanding as we work to minimize the disruption to our campus.