Edison Says Its Pole Is Safe But Doesn’t Say It’s Legal
Written by 991KBU on June 20, 2018
Southern California Edison says it’s new pole in Malibu is safe.
But a letter written from the company to the City of Malibu stops short of saying the pole meets legal standards … an assurance requested by the city manager.
As you recall … Edison got caught installing a badly-splintered pole on Morning View Drive a week ago.
Photos taken by KBUU news show cracks penetrating across the bottom of the pole … including one crack that splits it in half.
State rules prohibit the installation of poles with visible defects.
The city manager fired off a letter to Edison … asking for assurances that the new poll meets legal standards.
In a reply … Edison sidesteps that question.
A company official says the big crack that bisects the pole is minor.
But she says Edison has asked their tech team to again field verify the pole loading calculations.
In recent years … the California Public Utilities Commission has found that Edison has overloaded its poles … and also replaced overloaded poles with new poles that do not meet state standards.
The company has been forced to replace brand-new polls that was later found to be substandard.
In its letter Edison promises to monitor the pole as part of its regular pole inspection program.
That means Edison crews will look at the pole … with the next intensive inspection slated for 10 years from now.
