Some 1,700 Southern California Edison customers were without power for nearly 19 hours during a pre-planned power outage Wednesday that took longer than originally projected.
The affected customers who were without power from about 10 a.m. Wednesday until 4:20 a.m. Thursday were mostly Manhattan Beach residents, said Scott Gobble of SCE. "Unforeseen physical obstacles" prevented SCE from restoring power by 10 p.m., the latest time the company said power would come back for all 3,400 impacted customers, he said.
The planned power outage impacted Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach SCE customers and was done to enable system upgrades to the substation at Duncan and Dianthus streets in Manhattan Beach.
Manhattan Beach City Manager David Carmany told Patch his staff "heard from residents all day long" about the outage. "The concerns came in in every fashion," he said, "from phone calls to email to visits. It was a very busy day at city hall."
Gobble said SCE had mailed postcard notifications to all impacted customers that should have been received last week; some residents complained they didn't know about the planned power outage, said Carmany. Other complaints fielded included the length of time of the outage and power lost by customers not in the two zones SCE said would be affected.
Hermosa Beach City Manager Tom Bakaly told Patch Thursday he had not heard of any complaints and had heard from about 40 residents "leading up to" the planned outage.
Bakaly, who lives in the affected area, said power at his residence actually went out Tuesday, the day before the pre-planned outage, for about two hours. He said SCE will be at the July 9th City Council meeting to provide an update on their work and projects.
Gobble said the pre-planned outage impacted two "sections" of 1,700 customers each, mostly in Manhattan Beach. The section that began its outage at 10 a.m. was not brought back online until 4:20 a.m. due to having to set a pole with concrete, said Gobble. The other section of 1,700 customers was without power from about 9:15 a.m. until 6 p.m, he said.
At 8 p.m. Wednesday, SCE projected a midnight power restoration time for the remaining affected customers, however, they encountered "cable that wasn't able to be pulled through as easily as we'd thought it would be," said Gobble.
SCE has a claim procedure for those who've experienced an adverse impact from a power outage. Information is also available by contacting an SCE representative at (800) 655-4555.
According to the website, "Our goal is to reach a decision on most claims within 30 days of receipt... If we accept responsibility for your property damage claim, we will reimburse you for either the repair cost, actual cash value, or the replacement cost – whichever is lowest."
Gobble told Patch SCE had "adequate" staff and equipment for the job and that anyone who came by the worksite [and people did] could see that.
Additional pre-planned power outages of "shorter duration" will happen in about two months, Gobble said, for the same substation project and "ongoing Edison maintenance and system upgrades" will continue throughout the South Bay.
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