State Orders Edison To Figure Out Its Blackout System, Now
Written by 991KBU on November 2, 2018
Last month’s notification that power would be shut off in Malibu due to Santa Ana winds angered many Malibu residents …. who were frustrated at the lack of information and conflicting information from Southern California Edison.
Apparently … CalFire … the governors’s Office of Emergency Services …. and even the California Public Utilities Commission were left in the dark also.
The three state agencies have just slapped Southern California Edison with new requirements .
The three state agencies say last months preemptive power shutdown notices … called PSPS … make clear that utilities must provide specific, real-time information so the State can take appropriate steps to ensure public safety.
Edison and two other power companies nave been ordered to immediately notify the California State Warning Center when they decide to consider de-energizing power lines during high wildfire danger weather conditions.
The state is demanding immediate notification of when the power is actually cut … and when it is restored as well.
Maps and computerized data must be provided by Edison to the state … which will disseminate the information to local fire companies … law enforcement … cities and other agencies.
This information must show outage areas; circuits; impacted critical customers; and roads.
Edison had been only supplying circuit names … and told Malibu that the Gallahad and Cuthbert circuits were planned for emergency blackouts.
Problem was … nobody knows where the Gallahad and Cuthbert circuits are.
Turns out …. they are all of Malibu generally from Point Dume west.
The state also wants specific information about the number of customers per outage area.
The time of outage ·
The time to restoration.
The number of medical needs customers.
And …. which critical customers are affected … like telecommunciations customers … schools … and wastewater treatment plants.
During the October Santa Ana windstorm … Edison gave Malibu city hall conflicting and contradictory information about which areas of Malibu would be blacked out on purpose.
As it turns out … the not-very-strong Santa Ana winds caused the Ediosn power system to collapse in several places anyway … before the power could be intentionally shut off.
About 70 percent of Malibu was blacked out … for up to 24 hours … in that moderate wind event.
