City Repeats: Edison Served Sudden Blackout Alert, CPUC Fines Edison $8 Million For Negligently Injuring 3 Marines
Written by 991KBU on October 18, 2018
The city of Malibu put out an unusual news release yesterday … reaffirming what the city manager told KBUU news on Monday about fires.
Many Malibu residents are expressing furious reaction to the extent and duration of the power outages on Monday.
Southern California Edison officials have given contradictory statements about whether power was intentionally shut off to Malibu.
In fact Edison denies even saying to Malibu city officials that power could be cut off because of heavy Santa Ana winds.
Malibu city manager Reva Feldman put out a press release yesterday to say … oh yes you did … to Edison.
FELDMAN PSPS :26 QQQ PSPS INTO EFFECT
“The first notice that we got was what Edison terms the initial alert we got that I think about 9 AM on Monday morning.
“And that was about the two circuits out on the Westside.
“Coincidently there was already a power outage in parts of western Malibu at the time, but they did not ever put the PS into effect.”
Had promised to give 48 hours notice of pending blackouts … and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of ratepayer money to set up a high-tech weather forecasting center at Edison’s command post.
But if the Edison weather forecasters maybe forecast of severe Santa Anna’s last weekend … the company is not saying.
We’ve been asking Edison about this since Monday … and have had no reply.
And no reply from the CPUC either.
…
Meanwhile … the California Public Utilities Commission has slap an enormous fine on Southern California Edison for a faulty electrical line.
Edison had failed to repair a falling power line that was hanging less than 8 feet off the ground in the desert near 29 Palms.
Three active duty Marines we’re in a small vehicle and hit the power line … causing severe injuries as they were shocked.
The CPUC had originally find Edison 300,000 dollars for failing to maintain their equipment safely.
But the utility appealled … and a second investigation by the CPUC discovered that Edison’s behavior was far worse than first thought.
Edison line crews had for years failed to replace a nut that helped secure the overhead conductor. So the commission decided to increase its fine against the utility, according to an investigation report.
The agency says the utility discovered the missing nut in October 2011 and labeled it a low-priority fix.
Because of that mistake … which ended up with three injured U-S Marines …. the fine went from 300 thousand dollars up to 8 million dollars.
The utility said Wednesday says it acted properly … and intends to appeal the fine.
