Can San Diegans who lost power get reimbursed for spoiled groceries?

Above: FOX 5/KUSI video on what a Red Flag Warning means.

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — As electricity starts to return Wednesday for the thousands put under a public safety power shutoff, some impacted San Diegans may wondering whether it will be possible to get refunded for the food they lost by days without a refrigerator.

Guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture advises households who lose power for four hours or longer to throw out any refrigerated perishable items like poultry, meat, fish, eggs and leftovers.

Freezers can hold on a little longer, keeping food cold for about one to two days so long as the door remains closed the entire time.

With this round of public safety power shutoffs, thousands of San Diegans, some of whom had power cut as early as Monday afternoon, have far exceeded the criteria for when the food in their fridge becomes unsafe to consume.

So, what happens? San Diego Gas & Electric does on occasion reimburse households when they experience an outage. But in this case, the answer is a little more complicated.

SDG&E does allow for people to submit claims to get reimbursed for the costs of certain service disruptions. This could range from like property damage and bodily injury to loss of business and food spoilage.

Although the utility company will only accept these claims when the circumstances that led to the loss of power is fully its fault, such as a SDG&E crew accidentally cutting a wire that causes a home to go dark for a period of time.

SDG&E views weather — and public safety power shutoffs during weather events — as out of the utility's control and therefore an exception to its liability.

That is not to say all is lost. Some people may be able to recover the cost of their spoiled food through another avenue: home insurance.

According to American Family Insurance, the standard homeowners policy may be able to cover a portion of the food lost to certain kinds of power outages. Depending on the policy, this could be around anywhere from a $500 to $1,000 maximum reimbursement after paying a deductible.

The insurance company recommends homeowners — and insured renters — check with their policy provider to see whether the circumstances from the Red Flag Warning over the last few days qualifies for this coverage.

If it is covered, those submitting a claim would likely need to make sure the receipt from the trip to the grocery store when the food was purchased is handy to provide an estimation of the cost, as well as documentation like pictures showing the food that was lost.

A full list of what to discard can be found on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' website, FoodSafety.gov.

Before throwing out any food, it is also advised to check whether there is anything still in one's fridge that can be saved. Items like hard or processed cheeses, butter, fresh uncut fruits and vegetables, fruit juices, canned fruits, peanut butter, certain sauces and bread are safe to save.