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Long Beach power outages: Public Utilities Commission orders Edison to investigate grid
Paul Grigaux a vice president of So. California Edison, describes the July 15 outage that left thousands of Long Beach residents without power. With him at the Long Beach town hall meeting Aug. 22, 2105 is another Edison vice president, Greg Ferree.
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Sharon McNary/KPCC
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Safety officials with the state Public Utilities Commission have ordered Southern California Edison to put its Long Beach power grid under the microscope.
The PUC, which regulates investor-owned utilities like Edison, ordered the additional inspections late Tuesday after yet another outage cut power to hundreds of homes and businesses Sunday afternoon.
Two major outages in July followed explosions in electrical vaults in downtown Long Beach. Those outages kept the power off for several days, affecting thousands of customers.
But lesser outages continued in August in other parts of the city. Edison officials have been blaming the heat, saying customers running their air conditioning 24 hours a day during hot spells is overloading their equipment.
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But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.
We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.
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