State Investigating Edison's Response to Wind Related Power Outages
One man was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill city employees.
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 Crews work to fix power lines in Pasadena (KTLA-TV) |
Thousands of Southern California Edison customers are still without power, seven days after a powerful windstorm hit the Southland.
As of 4:00 p.m., 1,312 customers were still without power, mostly in the San Gabriel Valley.
The hardest hit areas were Altadena, Arcadia, La Canada Flintridge, Monrovia and San Gabriel.
419,000 SoCal Edison customers were without power at the peak of the outage.
Now the PUC is looking at why the outages occurred and why it’s taken so long for power to be restored.
"Our enforcement staff is looking into why the outages occurred and why it is taking so long for power to be restored," PUC Executive Director Paul Clanon said in a statement.
"SCE has a duty to provide safe and reliable service to its customers and we have a duty to make sure SCE is doing all it can to fulfill that mandate."
Edison said it is working around the clock to restore power.
The utility says it has called in crews from as far away as Fresno, and workers are doing 32-hour shifts.
But that's little consolation for many of those going on a week without power.
In Pasadena, one man was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill city employees if they didn't turn his power back on.
73-year-old Geoffrey Commons denies the charge.
He admits his frustration, and says the city's emergency hotline has pushed him over the edge.
"It was an answering service. They didn't even have the phone number of water and power, and I got pissed," Commons told KTLA.
He went down to City Hall around 1 p.m. Tuesday to file a formal complaint, and four Pasadena police officers arrive to arrest him "for cursing at someone on the phone," according to Commons.
Police say he threatened to get a gun and return to shoot everyone.
"I don't own a gun, don't know how to shoot a gun, never had a gun in my life," Commons maintains.
By 5:30 p.m., he had already posted $50,000 bond and was released from Pasadena Jail.
Commons has been involved in utility issues in Pasadena, including serving as the chairman of the city's Utility Advisory Board. He also once sat on California's Energy Commission, appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Commons says the wind storm has proven to be too much for the city to handle.
He points to the trees and power lines that are still down on his street as proof.
"They maxed out in terms of what their capability was," he told KTLA.
And Commons isn't the only one who is angry.
"Hour after hour, call after call, and they would never do anything," another resident, local dentist Carlos Cappellinie, said. "It's like they're mocking us."
"No one gave a damn," Commons echoed. "They made promises, they gave out false information and they lied."
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is taking note of all the complaints about the slow pace of power repairs.
At a board meeting on Tuesday, two supervisors slammed an Edison spokesperson for failing to keep customers informed.
"Is this the third world? Are we living in a third world country, or is this California... is this Southern California?" Supervisor Michael Antonovich asked.
"There should have been police cars, sheriff's cars out there with loud speakers just like we do in a fire situation," Supervisor Don Knabe said.
"The media only works if you have electricity to turn on the television, so that's stupid," he scolded.
The board is now asking the state's Public Utilities Commission to require Edison to have a communications plan in place before the next disaster strikes.
WIND DAMAGE
Meantime, cities affected by last week's wind storm are tallying up the damage costs -- and they're expensive.
The city of Duarte estimates its damage at $100,000.
Monrovia says it has $3 million to $4 million in damage.
South Pasadena estimates it has $1 million in damage, and Arcadia puts the figure at $2 million.
Temple City sustained the most damage. Estimates there range up to $10 million.
But despite all the damage, the state will not be making a disaster declaration.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors declared a local emergency on Tuesday for the San Gabriel Valley.
The supervisors have also requested similar action from the governor. Such a declaration would pave the way for emergency funding from both the state and federal governments.
But an official with the state Emergency Management Agency says that, at this point, California is not ready to declare an emergency in the San Gabriel Valley.
Los Angeles County's Office of Emergency Management has launched a special disaster hotline for people to report damage: 1-800-980-4990.
Residents can also call 211 to report damage.
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