Ill-timed power outages in Hermosa Beach earlier this month prompted renewed concern over a local utility’s reliability and reimbursement for outage-related expenses.
The blackouts, one of which lasted for nearly 24 hours, inconvenienced residents and cost local businesses thousands of dollars, according to comments at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
Officials from Southern California Edison appeared at the meeting and faced tough questioning from all four council members. Mayor Carolyn Petty and Mayor pro tem Hany Fangary are also scheduled to meet with Edison officials next week.
“Twenty-five percent of these outages are of unknown origin,” Fangary said, referring to data covering electricity reliability for the city in 2015. “I’m an engineer by training, and that suggests to me you need to look elsewhere to address this problem.”
Edison responded that it was in the process of a multi-year upgrade to power-delivery in the region, and that outages were an inevitable result. The utility has spent $227 million in infrastructure improvements in the South Bay over the last three years, according to Paul Hennessy, an official with Edison’s Torrance office.
The response did little to satisfy local business owners, who noted that the outages were particularly costly to local bars and restaurants because they occurred on weekends.
“My business suffered tremendously from the recent outages,” said Kristine Ashley, owner of Ashley’s Deli on Hermosa Avenue, in a letter to the council.
Mayor Petty took Edison to task over business losses in particular. She noted that some losses, such as those from food spoiled due to lack of cooling, are evidenced in receipts. But far more significant, and more difficult to document, are prospective losses from having to turn away legions of customers on a Friday or Saturday night.
Prospective losses may be compensated through Edison’s claims process, said Constance Turner, an Edison official based out of Rosemead.
“There’s a process to go through, but the first step is to file a claim,” Turner said. “You should include some kind of historical data, some type of record.”
Ron Newman, owner of Pier Plaza establishments including Baja Sharkeez and Palmilla, said that his restaurants have experienced at least five outages in the past few years. He has attempted to file claims, he said, but the process was overly burdensome.
“You can put in a perfect claim, and they’ll stall it and stall it, and eventually you’ll give up,” Newman said.
