For most Californians, a power outage means an inconvenience — a reset clock, a missed show. For a household that relies on In-Home Supportive Services, it can mean a refrigerated medication warming past safety, a lift or communication device losing power, or a caregiver who can’t reach you because cell towers and traffic signals are down too. Fire season raises the stakes further: Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) are now a routine part of California summers and falls, and they tend to hit medically fragile households hardest.
Generic wildfire checklists are everywhere. This isn’t one of those. Below is what’s actually on record with the state for IHSS recipients specifically, plus the utility-side programs built for exactly this situation — including one that changed recently, so you don’t spend time chasing something that isn’t there anymore.
At a glance
- You may already have an emergency back-up plan (SOC 827 or SOC 864) on file with your county — ask your social worker.
- Medical Baseline gives medically qualifying households lower-cost electricity and advance PSPS notice, with no income test.
- The old SGIP Equity Resiliency battery incentive closed at the end of 2025 — check current status before counting on it.
You may already have a back-up plan on file — ask for it
California requires county social workers to complete an individualized emergency back-up plan with every IHSS recipient. This isn’t a suggestion — it’s a standing program requirement, and it takes one of two forms depending on which IHSS program you’re in:
- Individual Emergency Back-Up Plan (SOC 827) — used for Personal Care Services Program (PCSP) and IHSS-Residual cases
- Individualized Back-Up Plan and Risk Assessment (SOC 864) — used for IHSS Plus Waiver (IPO) cases, and required at every reassessment
Both are meant to be completed at your initial assessment and updated at reassessment. They record who to call if your provider doesn’t show up — a family member, friend or neighbor, your county social worker, the county IHSS office, and your local Public Authority — plus your doctor’s office and, on the SOC 864, any additional health-related risk factors you and your social worker discussed.
Worth knowing: This requirement dates to a 2007 CDSS directive for the SOC 827 and a 2011 directive for the SOC 864, and how consistently it's carried out varies by county. Don't assume yours is on file just because it's supposed to be — ask your social worker directly for a copy, or to complete or update it at your next contact.
CDSS's own emergency toolkit
CDSS maintains a dedicated IHSS Emergency Resources page with a companion set of documents: an IHSS Recipient Tip Sheet, a matching IHSS Provider Tip Sheet, and a Personal Emergency Plan. The recipient and provider tip sheets are also available in Armenian, Chinese, and Spanish; the Personal Emergency Plan is available in Chinese and Spanish. These are general preparedness worksheets meant to sit alongside your back-up plan, not replace it — your SOC 827 or SOC 864 is the official record with your actual emergency contacts on file with the county.
Documents to track down
Ask your county social worker for the first two; the rest are on CDSS's site.
- SOC 827 — Individual Emergency Back-Up Plan (PCSP / IHSS-R cases)
- SOC 864 — Individualized Back-Up Plan and Risk Assessment (IPO cases)
- IHSS Recipient Tip Sheet — CDSS Emergency Resources page
- Personal Emergency Plan — CDSS Emergency Resources page
Medical Baseline: lower-cost power for medical needs, no income test
Separate from IHSS, the Medical Baseline program run by California’s utilities gives an extra allowance of electricity (and gas) at the lowest available rate to households where someone relies on life-support equipment, has a life-threatening illness, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma, is paraplegic or quadriplegic, has a compromised immune system, or needs heating or cooling because of a medical condition. There’s no income requirement — it’s a separate track from CARE/FERA, and a household can be enrolled in both.
The one real hurdle is that a licensed medical professional — an MD, DO, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant — has to sign the application. Some utilities streamline this: SCE, for example, will email your provider a signature request directly once you apply online, rather than leaving you to shuttle paperwork between offices.
What Medical Baseline actually gets you differs by utility and rate plan. As of this writing, SCE provides either an extra 16.5 kWh per day at the lowest tier or, on non-tiered rates, a flat 11% discount; SDG&E is transitioning to a flat 20% line-item discount; PG&E offers a 12% discount on certain rate plans. But the benefit that matters most for a caregiving household is easy to overlook: Medical Baseline customers get advance notification before a utility schedules a PSPS event in their area — real lead time to plan around a caregiving shift, a medication schedule, or a mobility device that needs charging.
If you’re served by a municipal utility rather than PG&E, SCE, or SDG&E — LADWP, Anaheim, Riverside, Glendale, Burbank, and others — Medical Baseline as described here isn’t a CPUC-regulated program for you. Contact your provider directly; similar programs may exist under a different name with different rules.
Who can qualify for Medical Baseline
Application requires a signature from a licensed MD, DO, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant. Rules and enrollment steps are set by your own utility.
Battery incentives: what changed, and what's actually open right now
This is the part of the fire-season conversation that’s moved fastest, and it’s worth being precise about, because outdated information here points people toward a program that no longer exists in the form they’ve heard about.
For several years, the CPUC’s Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) ran an Equity Resiliency budget that specifically prioritized Medical Baseline customers and residents of high fire-threat districts, paying a strong per-kilowatt-hour incentive toward home battery storage. That budget is now closed in every utility territory — it wound down at the end of 2025.
What’s open now is the Residential Solar and Storage Equity (RSSE) budget, created under Assembly Bill 209. It works differently in two important ways: it funds paired solar-plus-storage systems rather than a standalone battery, and eligibility is income-based (roughly under 80% of area median income) rather than tied to a medical condition or fire-threat district. Whether it’s actually open or waitlisted right now depends on your utility — status shifts territory by territory, sometimes week to week.
Before you apply: SGIP battery incentive budgets open, close, and reopen throughout the year, and the rules change between budgets. Confirm current status at the live tracker on selfgenca.com or by calling your utility's SGIP administrator — don't rely on last year's numbers.
LADWP customers can apply for the AB 209 residential solar-and-storage track directly through LADWP; other municipal utilities may not participate in SGIP at all.
What to do this week
- Call your county IHSS social worker and ask to review — or complete — your Individual Emergency Back-Up Plan (SOC 827) or Individualized Back-Up Plan and Risk Assessment (SOC 864).
- Download the CDSS Recipient Tip Sheet and Personal Emergency Plan from the IHSS Emergency Resources page and keep printed copies where a caregiver would find them.
- If someone in your household relies on medical equipment or has a qualifying condition, start a Medical Baseline application with your utility — loop in your doctor’s office early so the required signature doesn’t hold things up.
- Before budgeting for a home battery around an SGIP incentive, check the live program tracker or call the SGIP administrator for your utility to confirm what’s actually funded right now.
What to do this week
- Call your county IHSS social worker and ask to review or complete your SOC 827 or SOC 864 back-up plan.
- Download the CDSS Recipient Tip Sheet and Personal Emergency Plan; keep printed copies where a caregiver would find them.
- If someone in your household has a qualifying condition, start a Medical Baseline application — loop in your doctor's office early.
- Before budgeting around an SGIP incentive, confirm current status with the live tracker or your utility's SGIP administrator.
Read more
More guides from IHSS Connect
- Preparing Californians with Disabilities for Unexpected Natural Disasters
- 8 Tips for Caregiving for People With Disabilities
- Home Safety for IHSS Recipients: A Room-by-Room Guide
- CareReady: Free Emergency Care Packet Builder for Caregivers & Families
- If You Get IHSS, You Probably Qualify for CARE: How to Cut Your SCE and SoCalGas Bills
- Free Caregiver Movie Tickets: What California Theaters Actually Offer This Holiday Season
Sources
- CDSS — IHSS Emergency Resources
Recipient/provider tip sheets, Personal Emergency Plan - CDSS ACL 07-08 (2007)
Establishes the SOC 827 back-up plan - CDSS ACL 11-19 (2011)
Establishes the SOC 864 for IPO cases - CPUC — Medical Baseline
Program overview, qualifying conditions - SCE — Medical Baseline Fact Sheet
Allowance, discount, PSPS notice, signature process - SDG&E — Medical Need Qualification
20% line-item discount transition - PG&E — Medical Baseline Program
12% D-MEDICAL discount - CPUC — SGIP
Equity Resiliency through 2025; current RSSE/AB 209 budget - SGIP Program Metrics
Live tracker confirming Equity Resiliency is closed
CDSS is the primary authority on IHSS requirements; CPUC on utility programs. SGIP status changes frequently — verify before advising a reader to apply.
