Edison Responds Positively to Duarte Outage Concerns
DUARTE, CA, July 28, 2011 - In time for the July 26th City Council Meeting, Southern California Edison provided the City of Duarte with a written response addressing ongoing equipment failures and outage concerns the City laid out in its July 12, 2011 letter to the utility. The approximate two-page letter from Senior Vice President Les Stark was read in its entirety by City Manager Darrell George Tuesday night.
The letter detailed Edison’s plans to improve older sections of the beleaguered Honeywell circuit in order to improve reliability within the next 30 to 60 days.
Based on a recent, detailed inspection of both the Honeywell and Ambrus circuits, Edison has replaced an underground switch and associated components in addition to replacing an older cable with new duct and cable. Within 60 days, they will also be replacing five sections of older, primary cable in addition to installing fusing to minimize the scope of unplanned outages. The company has also installed additional fault indicators to both quickly determine the cause of outages and rapidly restore service following an outage.
“The City appreciates the timely response from SCE, and more importantly what they have done in the short term to address the spike in outages,” noted City Manager, Darrell George after reading the letter to the community and Council. Adding, “City staff looks forward to meeting with SCE District Manager Gary Shockley, to discuss the long-term permanent solutions as well as go over the additional information we have requested.”
Frustrated with over 42 outages since 2007, the City had given Edison a deadline of July 26, 2011 to state its plan to resolve the lengthy and repetitive outages related to underground equipment failure. In addition, Duarte has asked Edison to also provide a complete listing of all outages affecting the City’s hardest hit area within the boundaries of Royal Oaks Dr. to the north; Huntington Dr. on the south; Encanto Parkway on the east; and Swiss Trails Road on the west since January 2007 as well as a complete listing of all outage complaints received by the Customer Service Center within the same boundaries and period. At the City’s request, Edison has compiled this list and City staff will be reviewing this information with them in the near future.
Duarte residents and businesses are encouraged to lodge their questions and complaints about power outages and other issues relating to Edison service to Edison Customer Service Center at (800) 611-1911. Customers can also contact the California Public Utilities Commission in writing at 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102, or by telephone at 1-800-649-7570.
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