Neighbor Letter

Jason,

Bill & I thank you for your informative letter. We also reviewed the blog.
Our primary concern is the lack of information from Edison giving notice
of the problem and the timetable for rectifying the problem. It is certainly
inefficient as a service provider to have customers rely on information
that may be obtained by a mere "chance" telephone conversation with
an Edison employee. WE DESERVE MORE.

Our primary concern is that we be given information about the nature
of the problem and the timeline for repair. Although generators are
in use, there was about a ten minute outage on 8/24 at about 7:10pm,
What caused it and how often can we expect such interruptions?

We have sent a letter of our concerns to the Edison CEO. We are
supportive of any plan by the community that will result in more
efficient service.


Thanks,

Bill & Maxine Jackson

Claim Letter

Alan J. Fohrer
C.E.O.
Southern California Edison

Re: Claim Number 200707275

Dear Alan,

On Wednesday, August 8th, at approximately 10:00am we had a loss of power at our residence located at 30228 Via Victoria in Rancho Palos Verdes. This 17 hour power outage ended, due to the installation of generators, on Thursday, August 9th, at approximately 2:30 am.

On August 13th, 2007 I filed a claim with Southern California Edison for the loss of food due to this 17 hour power outage. I received a denial for my claim today, August 21, 2007, from Glen Tomas stating that Southern California Edison “can not guarantee a continuous supply of power free from interruption”.

There has been an ongoing failure of your infrastructure related to the delivery of electrical power to my home. On my bill from Southern California Edison each and every month I pay a delivery charge for my power. You, Southern California Edison, are responsible for the generation and delivery of power to my home.

This most recent power outage is the 3rd time since June 23rd that we have had a loss of power and loss of food traceable back to the same exact problem. Therefore, you have had plenty of notice to fix this ongoing problem.

I can’t help but envision Southern California Edison thinking they are the “smartest guys in the room” as many residents of Rancho Palos Verdes continue to have their homes powered by generators and experience the continued loss of food while you still manage to charge us premiums for electricity. Reminds me of Enron.

It is a combination of your negligence and incompetence that has led to the repeated loss of food therefore we do not think it unreasonable that you compensate us for our most recent loss of food.

I am re-submitting my claim to you via fax and look forward to resolving this claim quickly and efficiently.

Sincerely,

Robert and Lisa Waldo
30228 Via Victoria
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
310-265-7404

Neighbor Response

Jason, thank you for sending your letter on when the power problem first began. We had lost track of when the generators were delivered and when the problem actually began. It is my opinion that the power company is taking to long to fix the problem. We are beginning to feel that the power company is unitizing diesel generators to buy time Vs implementing a permanent solution. Here are our thoughts and concerns. You are welcome to post it on your blog.

I am beginning to feel like we are living in a third world country. How long should it take a fully staffed utility company to fix an electrical problem and or complete an upgrade? Should the utility company have notified its customers that power would be cut off in advance, if the procedure was pre-scheduled? What every happened to pre-planning or strategic planning? Does the utility company have a plan if so what is it?
I am quite surprised that we have not heard one word from the utility company and or from the City of Rancho Palos Verdes on this issue. We have had to call the utility company on several occasions to obtain what little bits and pieces of information that we currently have. None in which came voluntary. We have now have loud noisily diesel generators parked outside our homes since August 9 th. When the power outage first occurred our family went (3) days without power. I have experienced food spoilage because the power company delayed in the delivery of the power generators. When they were delivered I wondered why were they not delivered any sooner. Like most of you, we were happy to see the generators delivered. It meant we had power again. Now the questions is how long will the generators have to stay? I no longer see anyone working on the problem. Perhaps, the upgrade is in a location outside our city yet, no one has contact us to tell us what is going on.
Perhaps, because we have generator power we have not thought of the risks that diesel generators the size in which sit outside our homes may have. For those of you that have a diesel generator parked just outside your front door have you wondered just how safe a fueled generator is. These generators are parked on our already winding narrow street. The problem is compounded by the fact that our city does not have street lights? I live on Via Lorado, most residents that live on the block are aware that there are times when we have to yield to on coming traffic zooming down the hill in order to safely pass one another other. This past month we had two accidents on Via Lorado. One vehicle traveling up hill ran right into a parked car. The sound of the impact hitting the parked car was tremendous. The second accident occurred about a week later when a vehicle traveling down hill hit the curb right at the exact spot where the utility company parked one of its generators. My concern is, visitors, sub-contractors, and large delivery trucks are complexly unaware of these safety conditions. Then when I see the utility company park (7) fueled generators on our streets I wonder if they ever considered the fact that we have no street lights, narrow streets, and steep hills. Does anyone truly believe that an orange safety cone will stop a moving vehicle from running right into one of these generators? Does anyone know what would happen if this occurs?
As a resident on Via Lorado I witness cars speeding down the hill all the time. One small mistake has the potential of a fairly large problem for all of us. Thus, these generators although helpful to all of us are a safety hazard and should only be used as a temporary measure. I ask everyone to consider how long is temporary? The longer these generators stay parked on our public streets the higher the risk. The City of Rancho Palos Verdes should be concern that the power company is operating un-timely.
Concern residents should contact the City of Rancho Palos Verdes to voice their concerns. Unlike small companies, the utility company has a very large workforce that could be called upon to resolve this issue timely. We have now had generators in our neighborhood for 10-day's or 240 man hours. Does that sound like temporary to you?
Cecilia Mauricio

Neighbor Response

Hello Jason,
We agree with you 100 percent and should have a class action claim against Edison Electric Co. We certanly will support such action,
sincerely,
Eva Kolosvary-
Stupler and Harvey Stupler
at 30211 Via Rivera RPV

Neighbor Response

Jason Buck:

I agree that Southern Cal. Edison has been very difficult to
obtain answers to the power outage, in spite of their ongoing
advertisement that they doing great things in our behalf in
an ongoing manner. Sounds like a typical politician who
feathers his own nest.

I drove around Via Lorado, Via Rivera, Via Victoria when all
of the lights, in the area you mentioned, were out. I noticed
that the next tier of homes above Via Rivera had lights which
suggest, in view of the five week period you mentioned, that they
lost the main feed line to our street level

One or two of the people in my near vicinity and I called the
company and recieved different estimates of when the power
would be restored. Typical Public Utility operation.

I suggest that you contact the homes affected on the streets
mentioned above and have them contact you by phone or
any other communication method. Total the results and send
a letter to the Public Utilities Commission in the state capital along
with comments concerning the complete lack of cooperation
from S.C.E.

Robert Lace

Neighbor Response - Great Idea

Jason,
We have met at one of your open houses, and I want to say that you are on the right track in elevating this to the higher executives at SCE and to get the city to help.
This condition may have a detrimental effect our real estate in PV as it really causes problems in our daily lives.
I suggest that we get together a group and approach the SCE management and request a written plan as to how they are going to solve this problem permanently. As we all know we have had a few blackouts in the last few months already that lasted a few hours. THE SQUEAKY WHEEL DOES GET THE GREASE.
I have asked Jim Bell the RPV Public Works director to get involved and his answer was it is a SCE problem!
I offer my service and suggest that others be contacted to assist.
Frank Glaser
Via Rivera

Response - Bronchal Problems

I appreciate your correspondence re the generators in our neighborhood. My husband is finding the deisal fumes to be aggravating his bronchal problems. The noise is also very annoying. Please post our concerns onthe blog.
Thanks.
Patty Kinion
7301 Via Marie Celeste