CC SR 20231003 03 - SCE Power Outages
CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: 10/03/2023
AGENDA REPORT AGENDA HEADING: Regular Business
AGENDA TITLE:
Consideration and possible action to receive a report from Southern California Edison
(SCE) regarding frequent power outages in the Grandview Estates neighborhood.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
(1) Receive and file a status report from SCE on its action plan and timeline for
correcting power outage issues in the Grandview Estates neighborhood; and
(2) Request SCE return on November 21, 2023 with a progress update for correcting
the power outage issues in the Grandview Estates neighborhood.
FISCAL IMPACT: None
Amount Budgeted: N/A
Additional Appropriation: N/A
Account Number(s): N/A
ORIGINATED BY: Karina Bañales, Deputy City Manager
REVIEWED BY: Same as above
APPROVED BY: Ara Mihranian, AICP, City Manager
ATTACHED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS:
A. August 1, 2023 staff report
B. June 6, 2023 staff report
C. April 4, 2023 staff report
BACKGROUND:
On August 1, 2023, the City Council received an update from Celina Luna, interim
Government Relations Manager of Southern California Edison (SCE) Local Public Affairs.
That evening, SCE presented a status update on work performed in the Grandview
Estates neighborhood to address short-term and long-term solutions since April 4, 2023.
At the conclusion of the August 1 meeting, the City Council requested SCE return on
October 3 with an update on the following:
• Status update on short-term and long term solutions
• Power outages in the Grandview Estates neighborhood
• Claims submitted by resident(s)
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• City Manager Weekly Updates
This evening, due to a scheduling conflict, SCE will not be in attendance to present the
following updates to the City Council. SCE did assure Staff they would return on
November 21 and will provide another status update. That said, because the City Council,
in its motion, continued the discussion to tonight’s meeting and that residents are
expecting to receive a status update, this item remains on tonight’s agenda despite no
representation from SCE.
DISCUSSION:
Since the August 1 meeting, SCE has provided Staff with the following status summary.
Short Term Solution:
Remote Automatic Reclosers (RARs)
SCE has completed the work design for the installation of the RARs. The project is
scheduled to be completed before the end of 2023. RARs are protection devices that are
designed to intelligently and safely isolate portions of the circuit to sectionalize and
minimize the overall impact of outages. These devices provide flexibility in the circuits to
isolate an outage to the smallest area possible, which should reduce the duration of
outages occurring throughout a neighborhood. The deployment of RARs is a strategy that
is being used to sectionalize the grid and allow portions of the circuit to remain energized
during an outage event.
Long Term Solution:
4kV Cutover
SCE has received funding approval and is currently in the planning stage of a partial 4kV
cutover plan of the Arcturus 4kV circuit. This is part of a long-term solution for the voltage
issues experienced in the Grandview Estates neighborhood. The expected completion
timeline is currently set for quarter three of 2024 (based on a calendar year not fiscal
year). This project will enable SCE to reconfigure the circuitry to serve the residents of
Grandview Estates.
SCE will coordinate with Staff to ensure that the City’s engineering team has adequate
time to conduct a peer review without any undue time delays.
Grandview Estates Neighborhood – Power outages
From July 26, 2023 to September 18, 2023, SCE reported the following power outages
affecting the Grandview Estates neighborhood.
Planned Maintenance Outages:
SCE reported that the Grandview Estates neighborhood experienced ze ro planned
outages.
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Unplanned Outages
SCE reported one repair outage on the Jupiter circuit with a duration of less than one
hour that affected 10 customers.
Claims Submitted by Residents
At this time, no additional residents have requested information on claims that have been
submitted. As described at the August 1 City Council meeting, the Public Affairs division
cannot intervene with the Claims Division. Celina Luna, Interim Government Relations
Manager, is readily available to assist with the coordination of claims to ensure that
residents are connected to the appropriate personnel to ensure their claim is processed
and if denied, that they are informed as to the cause of denial.
City Manager Weekly Updates
Due to a low volume of issues or concerns from the Grandview Estates neighborhood,
SCE has transitioned from providing City Manager weekly updates to “Timely Updates”.
Timely updates will be provided based on calls for service or incidents impacting the area
or any other in the City.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
On September 17, 2023, a resident from the Grandview Estates neighborhood contacted
SCE concerning a disconnected wire from the powerline in their backyard resulting in
sparks emitting from the utility pole. The resident reached out to the City Staff who
connected them with Ms. Luna. As a result, the issue was resolved within 24 hours, but
the timely response by SCE’s customer service line was raised especially because of the
potential risk. This concern was expressed with SCE’s Interim Government Relations
Manager.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends the City Council receive and file a report from SCE regarding ongoing
power outages in the Grandview Estates neighborhood and its action plan and a timeline
for addressing power grid issues, and request SCE return with a progress update on
November 21, 2023.
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