Politics & Government

A City in the Dark

Palos Verdes Estates City Council members and residents say they're fed up with power outages. Southern California Edison says it has a plan for the entire Peninsula.

For most who drive past or see it from nearby cities, The Hill at night is a recognizable landmark, lit up by the lights turned on in households scattered along its rolling hills.

But that glow occasionally goes dark when residences on the Peninsula lose power, something city officials say has been a problem for years.

And despite millions of dollars in repairs and upgrades since 2008, Palos Verdes Estates City Council members and residents are pointing a finger at Southern California Edison with demands to make frequent outages a thing of the past.

Find out what's happening in Palos Verdeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In front of skeptical council members and residents, a Southern California Edison representative on Tuesday night tried to ease frustrations over these outages on The Hill. By the end of his presentation, it was clear there might be a long road ahead for residents hoping to stay out of the dark.

The council called for a public presentation after experiencing years of these outages themselves, in addition to an outpouring of dissatisfaction with the utility company from residents.

Find out what's happening in Palos Verdeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We're frustrated with the failures over the last number of years," Mayor Pro Tem George F. Bird, Jr. said during Tuesday's meeting. "It doesn’t sound like Southern California Edison has been doing a very good job anticipating the need for improvements over the past few years."

Marvin Jackmon, the utility company's regional public affairs manager, empathized with council and audience members, admitting some of their frustrations were justified.

"Our service in the Peninsula is not where we want it to be," he said.

The area's aged infrastructure has contributed to service problems on The Hill, Jackmon said, in addition to other unplanned outage causes such as weather. He outlined plans for upgrades designed to make it easier for the company to identify outages, in addition to limit their size and duration.

Fault indicators to better determine outage locations, in addition to new fused switches that will isolate problems without impacting other customers, are scheduled for installation within the first three months of the year, he said. A $4 million new circuit project to improve Palos Verdes service, $900,000 in capital improvements, as well as continued tree trimming to prevent outages, is also planned, Jackmon said. Referencing the Lunada Bay area, a spot recently hit hard by outages, he said the outlined repairs are designed to help areas that experience the most outages. Some repairs will spread to neighboring cities, Jackmon said.

Some council members were unsure the plans outlined by Jackmon would take care of the service problems.

"One of the things that we really need to be able to have is reliable, dependable electricity," Councilwoman Ellen Perkins said to Jackmon. "Some of the things you’ve outlined I'm not confident will take care of some of the areas in Palos Verdes Estates."

The ongoing power outages are "unacceptable," Councilman Jim Goodhart said.

"How ironic this is that we do not have reliable power in in Western states for quality of life?" he said, adding he doubted power reliability was factored into the ranking.

Doug Laurin, a Palos Verdes Estates resident, said the company is not "seriously addressing the problems."

"Clearly Southern California Edison has under-invested in Palos Verdes Estates," Laurin said. "We need the council to be far more aggressive with [the utility company]."

Other residents spoke during Tuesday's meeting about outages at home. One expressed outrage over losing power while hosting an event with some 60 guests in attendance.

A multi-year "Peninsula Reliability Project" plan to fix Palos Verdes infrastructure is in development and expected to be completed by the end of this year, according to a letter sent by an Edison official to Palos Verdes Estates Mayor John Rea in November. 

"This plan is still in development because it is complex, expensive, and it will cause considerable disruptions in your communities," said Lynda Ziegler, Southern California Edison's executive vice president for power delivery services, in the letter.

Rea suggested Jackmon talk about this plan during his next appearance before the council. Members said they wanted the representative to visit quarterly and provide status reports.

Jackmon said he's aware there's work ahead on the Peninsula.

"We know we need to do more," he said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here