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MALIBU SURFSIDE NEWS | November 11, 2020 | 7
POSTED TO malibusurfsidenews.com
SCE tries to explain Malibu windstorm ‘de-energizations’
10
DAYS AGO
SCOTT STEEPLETON, Editor
In a statement that
added confusion to an already
confusing situation,
Southern California Edison
tried to explain what
happened in Malibu during
a damaging Santa Ana
wind event Oct. 26-27.
On Oct. 26, strong
winds blew across the
region, knocking down
trees, toppling fences and
leaving a Morning View
Drive street sign on Pacific
Coast Highway broken
from one of its holders
and whipping around dangerously
above eastbound
motorists.
Power outages also affected
some 3,000 Southern
California Edison
customers. Several intersections
along PCH were
affected, the signal lights
going dark, leading City
Manager Reva Feldman
to request Los Angeles
County Sheriff’s Department
personnel provide
traffic enforcement.
Were the outages the
planned type the utility
uses in the name of safety
during fire weather, aka
Public Safety Power Shutoff?
Or was the storm to
blame?
The former may have
been the case, some assumed,
because, in advance
of the windstorm,
SCE announced possible
planned outages.
No answers were available
as the day went on.
Nor was there a clear reason
for the outages on Oct.
27, day two of the windstorm,
which saw some
customers still in the dark.
On Oct. 30, SCE provided
answers — and
presented a statement it
“allowed” the city to distribute.
However, the explanation
is anything but clear.
First, there’s no mention
of “outage”; rather,
incidents of no power are
referred to as “de-energizations.”
“The Santa Ana wind
event on Monday and
Tuesday, Oct. 26-27, affected
residents and businesses
across six different
counties in Southern
California Edison’s service
area,” the statement
begins. “Some customers
in Malibu received notifications
due to a circuit
that was not de-energized
as part of a Public Safety
Power Shutoff event, but
lost power due to Santa
Ana winds. Any PSPS
notifications that the customers
received were in
error.”
In other words: There
was an outage caused by
the winds. SCE sent a
message that the outage
may have been planned.
We were wrong. Sorry.
“SCE understands this
confluence of events was
confusing,” the statement
ends, “and is committed
to continuing to improve
its notification process to
better inform Malibu and
other cities of the reasons
for de-energizations.”
See related story, Page 13.
A Caltrans worker repairs a street sign that broke free from a holder during damaging
Santa Ana winds on Oct. 26. SCOTT STEEPLETON/SURFSIDE NEWS PHOTOS
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