KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
On Tuesday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) held a public hearing to discuss Southern California Edison’s (SCE) execution of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) in response to weather events in 2020.
Hosted by leaders from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection, the meeting aimed to publicly address the identified mistakes by SCE in regard to the use of PSPS.
“Shutoffs must be a measure of last resort,” said CPUC President Marybel Batjer during Tuesday’s meeting. “For many, loss of power means loss of income, loss of education for a day or more, and fear for those who are medically vulnerable and rely on machines. They put lives and livelihoods at stake.”
Batjer also directed a letter to SCE asking for the utility’s plan for corrective actions based on these concerns.
SCE has faced criticism for their use and execution of PSPS, a practice that allows the company to shut off power in areas where extreme weather could contribute to natural disasters, such as wildfires. Most recently, a PSPS was put to use during last week’s wind events, leaving thousands of Santa Clarita residents without power.
SCE’s use of notifications and warnings for these power shut-offs were also brought up during the meeting, with concerns about their accuracy and clarity.
“We recognize the importance of getting customer notifications right,” said SCE CEO Thomas Payne. “The variance between customer notifications sent and actual number of customers de-energized reflects, in part, SCE’s commitment to de-energize as few customers as possible while protecting public safety and adhering to notification requirements.”
Customers complained that they either received no notification before their power was shut off or received a warning but never had their power shut off.
“We’re doing an end to end review of that process and looking at if we should modify the notices we put out,” said Jill Anderson, senior vice president for SCE. “We’ve been updating the way we describe the different alerts as well. We are also working proactively to capture the latest customer contact information.”
Callers, including customers, elected officials and representatives, repeatedly brought up concerns about the safety effects of PSPSs, such as traffic lights, water access, and food and medicine preservation. In areas like Agua Dulce and Acton where many residents rely on electricity for access to water, the PSPS could result in dangerous situations.
“We need to end this practice,” said Congressman Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, who called in to Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s a tremendous public safety issue. I am more than ever convinced that the harm done by these shutdowns is greater than the harm and risk of the threat of fires in our area.”
After hearing public opinion on Edison’s performance, the second half of the meeting focused on SCE’s plans for improving their PSPS system, including outreach, compensation and determining when and where to shut power off.
To see Edison’s plan for improvement and review of their performance in 2020, click here.
SoCal Edison plans to host a public workshop with utility companies and communities impacted at the end of February.
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I live in an area impacted every time by PSPS shutdowns. I work from home and have a child schooling from home and have to fire up a generator each time. While I do not like the inconvenience but have learned how to manage it. The fact is, there were 3 fires in this last wind event. Nearly every wind event in SCV is met with fires. The public rarely hears the root cause. If it continues to be faulty electrical equipment, then they need to have a plan to update that equipment with the goal of ending the need for PSPS events. If it isnt, then they are having to hedge against the possibility given that they just settled a $2b lawsuit. They are between a rock and a hard place and the customer is suffering the consequence.
This problem can be summed up in one word: greed. The power companies largely hold monopolies in coverage areas and thus do not feel they are accountable to consumers. Their only concern is investors whose concern, in turn, is maximizing profits. Let’s face it … wind in SVC is not a new phenomenon … it’s always been here. They’ve known for some time that the infrastructure is out of date and that by failing to modernize it, they are dangerously negligent. However, spending billions to upgrade infrastructure to be more resistant to weather events would cut into profits, so they don’t do it. They instead opt for the cheaper “band-aid” solution of shutting off power for thousands of residents whenever a breeze kicks up. In other words, they’re aiming to cover their own asses in the cheapest way possible. This will not change until there is meaningful reform in the system for holding these organizations accountable.
Unfortunately many of us are in living situations where we are not allowed or afforded the use of a generator. I attended this town hall meeting. There was nowhere near the amount of recognition for how heinous it is for a company to decide whether we get service or not, with NO OPTIONS for the consumer to leave said company. We are FORCED customers and as such this situation will never ever be okay. WE are the ones bearing the brunt of their mistakes and our employers/landlords have no mercy or compassion. This is unconscionable.
I use a CPAP machine to help me breath while I sleep, so I had to stay in hotel rooms or my family’s home, the problem was, SCE sent me many POTENTIAL notifications saying we MAY shut off the power over and over again. I would have preferred them to say we WILL cut the power off between the hours of 3pm and 6am or something like that and then stick to it so I could plan in ADVANCE.
The second thing is this, here in Southern California we have some of the smartest people in the world. SCE should release details of specific fire starting events with as exact details as they can about how the fires are actually started during high winds from their equipment, with pictures and closeups and technical diagrams, and ask the community to help them solve the problem. I expect that someone from the community will be able to help SCE solve this problem.