As the electric service provider in Seal Beach, Southern California Edison takes its job very seriously. We have teams dedicated to providing reliable, affordable electric service to you, our customers, 24/7.
Please know that although our proactive infrastructure investments in the community — including circuit upgrades and repairs, pole replacements and maintenance programs — are substantial, outages still occur that are beyond our control such as weather and heat storms, car-hit poles, tree branches, metallic balloons and palm fronds falling into power lines.
Nevertheless, it still means an outage for you, our customers, and we understand the challenges, frustrations and inconveniences this can cause you as a residential or business customer. You rely on electricity to perform your daily tasks and it is SCE’s job to provide good service to you. As you may be aware, there have been a few repair outages that have occurred in the Old Town area this year and SCE would like to offer the following information. SCE met with the city earlier this year and determined the installation of automated switches and branch line fuses could be done in strategic locations to help limit the scope of outages when they do occur. It is SCE’s goal to install these devices by year’s end, at the latest.
Please keep in mind that even with this equipment installation, it will be impossible to eliminate all repair outages with the Monday, June 13 metallic balloon outage as the latest example. Metallic balloons are a real issue and with graduations and Mother’s/Father’s Day, these instances always spike this time of year.
SCE was asked why there were so many customers initially without power and the answer is quite simple. SCE’s equipment is designed to lockout (de-energize) until troublemen are able to arrive on scene, determine the cause of an outage and isolate an area.
This locking out procedure is a very important safety mechanism in SCE’s system meant to protect against downed lines and arcing. It is important to note that regardless of what circuit the Old Town area is served from, the outage still would have affected a significant number of customers because of the damage the metallic balloon caused.
SCE also has been asked about undergrounding utility lines and if doing so would help prevent outages, and the simple answer is no. Outages still can occur whether equipment is aboveground or underground and underground outages can take longer and are more expensive to repair. However, if property owners are interested in pursuing undergrounding, SCE encourages customers to work with their dedicated city staff to help answer questions. Costs associated with undergrounding would be the responsibility of the requesting parties and there is a state regulation called Rule 20B that can be found on SCE’s website should property owners be interested in seeking additional information.
As summer approaches, SCE must also stress that as a partner to you in the Seal Beach community, it is also important to work together to prepare for repair outages and disasters. Keeping flashlights or a generator handy as a resident or business owner or if you are an individual that requires electricity for medical equipment will be very important.
SCE has partnered with your local CERT team to provide information to customers and we also encourage customers to visit our website for additional information.
When outages do occur, there are several locations to seek information. SCE has an active website sce.com/outages and a mobile APP to view a map of current outages. Customers can also call 1-800-611-1911 or email our dedicated team at scepoc@sce.com. If you wish to file a claim, you may do so by emailing claims@sce.com or calling 1-800-251-3311.
Again, SCE appreciates the ability to serve as your electric service provider in Seal Beach and wishes you a safe and relaxing summer.
