City of Duarte Electrical Outage Update

At approximately 6:45 pm on April 19, 2009, approximately 2300 Duarte residents on the 16KV Honeywell circuit, primarily in the Fish Canyon area of the City lost power. Underground components referred to as elbows located inside an electrical vault along the circuit were primarily responsible for the outage. Within one-hour Edison had restored power to all customers, with the exception of 319 residents. Power was fully restored by 3:00 am in the morning.

SCE will be doing a complete inspection of the Honeywell circuit in May, 2009. Vaults will be heat scanned, cleaned of debris and repairs made if necessary. During consecutive hot days this summer, SCE will also be inspecting and monitoring the circuit for potential issues.

In September of 2008, during a planned outage, SCE replaced three switches on the 16 kV Honeywell Circuit that had been involved in the majority of the more than 25 electrical outages to hit the city over the last three years. The new switches are the latest technology, environmentally friendly, and will allow for better isolation during outages, in addition to facilitating the ability to more quickly identify and solve problems.

The proactive steps will also support the preparation for the addition of a new 16 kV Ambrus Circuit that Edison plans to install in 2009-2010. The Ambrus Circuit will provide paralleling points at three locations on the Honeywell Circuit and off-load 180 amps. This improvement will provide load relief to the Payne and Bateman circuits that also serve Duarte, and allow for the capability to switch loads during emergency situations. Edison just recently announced that this project has been moved up in terms of pre-design and the permit processing.

SCE does not provide 100% reliability and even when the new circuit is added, there is still the potential for outages to occur. To report a power outage, residents are encouraged to call SCE at 1-800-611-1911. To file a claim with the Edison Company, visit their website at www.sce.com/claims or mail/fax a letter to Edison describing the nature and extent of the claim. Include the date, time, and location of damage, and your name, address, account number ,and daytime telephone number.