San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE) has announced that it has been honored with two 2025 Chartwell Best Practices Awards: the Gold Award for Excellence in Outage Operations and the Silver Award for Excellence in Outage Communications.
The awards recognize SDGE’s leadership in safeguarding communities during extreme weather events and advancing innovative technologies to help reduce wildfire risks and power outages.
Kevin Geraghty, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Safety Officer for SDGE commented: “These awards reflect SDGE’s unwavering commitment to safety, innovation, and customer-focused service.
“By combining cutting-edge technology with compassionate, proactive outreach, we’re setting a national standard for protecting communities during extreme weather.”
The Gold Award underscores the role of SDGE’s Wildfire Next Generation System (WiNGS) platform in helping to reduce wildfire risks and outage impacts.
Recent updates to the platform include real-time risk modeling- integration of weather data, drone imagery and AI-driven analytics facilitates enhanced de-energization decisions to serve customers more effectively.
Temporary construction visibility- automated tracking of temporary poles and infrastructure enhances risk assessments to aid in mitigating Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) impacts.
Proactive community protection- enhanced geospatial tools allow crews to prioritize high-risk areas in an effort to restore power faster and reduce disruptions to vulnerable communities.
The Silver Award recognizes SDGE’s execution of a multi-layered communication strategy during multiple Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events prompted by historic Santa Ana winds and extreme fire weather in December 2024 and January 2025.
During this period, SDGE successfully informed more than 274,000 customers through coordinated outreach efforts.
Multi-channel alerts: Notifications delivered via text, email, voice messages and the SDGE mobile app in 22 languages, including American Sign Language.
Community relationships- coordination with public safety agencies, tribal nations and critical facilities to enhance real-time awareness and resource deployment.
Support for vulnerable populations- activating ten Community Resource Centers, personalizing outreach to medical baseline customers and providing essentials like Wi-Fi, generators and emergency housing.
Social media engagement- real-time updates, multilingual content and myth-busting posts across platforms.
San Diego Gas & Electric has announced that it has been recognized with two 2025 Chartwell Best Practices Awards: the Gold Award for Excellence in Outage Operations and the Silver Award for Excellence in Outage Communications.
