SCE Planned Blackouts Generate Malibu Gripes

There is grumbling in Malibu about the Southern California Edison plan to cut off electrical service in extreme wind events.

Los Angeles T-V reporters are discovering the story … that the California Public Utilities Commission has issued a statewide policy … allowing power to be cut if there’s a substantial fire danger.

And this is not just Malibu.

Southern California Edison is talking about cutting the power in Entire cities like Corona … in the inland Empire.

The reaction in Malibu has been talk about challenging the new rules in court.

California law requires electric companies to provide safe and reliable power.

It doesn’t say anything about providing the power part of the time .… and cutting it off in the name of safety.

Malibu mayor Rick Mullen says the power company is simply cutting ipower off in the name of reducing financial liability for causing fires.

Southern California Edison poles are believed responsible for the disastrous Thomas fire last year … which burned 440 Square miles … destroyed more than 1000 homes … and indirectly led to the death of at least 22 people.

The power company may be on the hook for more than $2 billion in damages … although official blame it has yet to be assigned.

And California Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday threw his weight behind the proposal to make it harder, but not impossible, for private property owners to collect damages from utility companies … when they unintentionally cause fires in California.

Brown’s proposal doesn’t entirely eliminate a California law known as inverse condemnation, which lets courts hold utilities financially liable for damage their equipment causes, even if they followed state safety and maintenance rules.

This change could make it harder for fire victims to collect money in cases where a utility’s equipment caused a fire but the company didn’t act negligently.

rown’s proposal would also increase potential fines for violating state safety laws.

And it would prohibit utilities from passing on to ratepayers the costs of those imposed fines.

Back in Malibu … Rambla Pacifico resident Scott Dittrich has been leading and effort to put the power poles in his neighborhood underground.

He told the city council this week that cutting off the power in storms …

NEWSCART 77606 DITTRICH POLES QQQ ALL POLES IN MALIBU

“that’s a horrid idea.

“But I think that Malibu … trying to take leadership in a number of areas … particularly in environmental areas, should consider implementing a .25 percent sales tax addition, that would fund undergrounding all utility poles in Malibu.”

But rough estimates show that putting power lines underground in all of Malibu may cost $600 million or more … far beyond the taxing ability of the city under current state law.

Edison meanwhile has two weeks left to draw up its contingency plans for Malibu and file them with the state.

After that … it has 60 days to explain these plans to the city and other affected agencies … and residents.

The power company has told the city it will appear at the next meeting of the public safety commission … tentatively scheduled for August 5th … to do just that.