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
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
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
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
Monday, August 20, 2007
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
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
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
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
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
Thanks.
Patty Kinion
7301 Via Marie Celeste
Neighbor Response
Thank you for your letter. We certainly support your efforts to improve the power situation in our area. We had similar brown-out and black-out experiences on the days youmentioned but our power seems to have beenrestored without the use of generators --- for now at least. We are not laying bets on the future. Your horrendous experience should have been met with better courtesy and compensationthan you have received. We'll be reading the blogs. Herb and Irma Remstein
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
"Should Utility Companies be Held Accountable?"
This article was written by a Rancho Palos Verdes resident who is suffereing from the power problems in the Pt. Vicente area. It was published in the Daily Breeze Tuesday August 14th, 2007.
We all seem eager to voice our contempt of airline companies lately! Whether for late flights, crying babies, baggage losses, or cramped seats, we take the opportunity to give the airlines a "piece of our mind" at the least glimpse of a problem. We expect them to be perfect in matters of our travel, and many actually think its our right to have it so. The airlines are viewed as a utility company would be, always expected to be on the top of their service game, with no slip ups, no delays, no crew or passenger routing mistakes.
If they do encounter these problems, interrupted passengers become very vocal about compensation, and other perks that go with our inconvenience. We expect telephone notification for delays, free meals and hotels for our troubled trips, free tickets for flight interruptions. Then why is it when our electrical utility goes out, the phone company lines go down, or the water main breaks, you get no warning, no update, no apologies and no compensation?
My area had trouble with electrical service recently. The electrical provider scheduled a planned maintenance that would take the power out for approximately 20 hours, (told this over the phone when I called in to check the status of the outage). There was no notice that work was scheduled, no communication when it continued beyond the maintenance stage, and indeed, no word at all unless the customers called to inquire what the problem was. Then we received only estimated times for information updates. We understand that there are going to be circumstances beyond human control, like broken water mains or snapped phone lines, but why do we accept these so readily without wrath?
Why are airlines expected to compensate passengers for their mistakes, some, like weather, air traffic control problems, and connecting flight interruptions or flight safety issues, which are totally out of their control? We expect them to issue vouchers for meals, hotels, free tickets, and the like, but have nothing to say when our home food supply is ruined, though we may have been able to salvage it with a little fore warning.
No, our utility companies are NOT the same. I just experienced a two-day electrical interruption. No warning, no compensation, little communication and $200 worth of food that had to be tossed out due to spoilage. The only comment? "We're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you!" And a recorded message at that, received in the early morning as the power went back on, and every alarm on every appliance and system in the house was sounding.
I'm wondering if we'd put up with that from the airlines?
www.gemcorptraining.blogspot.com
is a blog on various thoughts on good customer service, the benefits, the techniques, and where its offered.
We all seem eager to voice our contempt of airline companies lately! Whether for late flights, crying babies, baggage losses, or cramped seats, we take the opportunity to give the airlines a "piece of our mind" at the least glimpse of a problem. We expect them to be perfect in matters of our travel, and many actually think its our right to have it so. The airlines are viewed as a utility company would be, always expected to be on the top of their service game, with no slip ups, no delays, no crew or passenger routing mistakes.
If they do encounter these problems, interrupted passengers become very vocal about compensation, and other perks that go with our inconvenience. We expect telephone notification for delays, free meals and hotels for our troubled trips, free tickets for flight interruptions. Then why is it when our electrical utility goes out, the phone company lines go down, or the water main breaks, you get no warning, no update, no apologies and no compensation?
My area had trouble with electrical service recently. The electrical provider scheduled a planned maintenance that would take the power out for approximately 20 hours, (told this over the phone when I called in to check the status of the outage). There was no notice that work was scheduled, no communication when it continued beyond the maintenance stage, and indeed, no word at all unless the customers called to inquire what the problem was. Then we received only estimated times for information updates. We understand that there are going to be circumstances beyond human control, like broken water mains or snapped phone lines, but why do we accept these so readily without wrath?
Why are airlines expected to compensate passengers for their mistakes, some, like weather, air traffic control problems, and connecting flight interruptions or flight safety issues, which are totally out of their control? We expect them to issue vouchers for meals, hotels, free tickets, and the like, but have nothing to say when our home food supply is ruined, though we may have been able to salvage it with a little fore warning.
No, our utility companies are NOT the same. I just experienced a two-day electrical interruption. No warning, no compensation, little communication and $200 worth of food that had to be tossed out due to spoilage. The only comment? "We're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you!" And a recorded message at that, received in the early morning as the power went back on, and every alarm on every appliance and system in the house was sounding.
I'm wondering if we'd put up with that from the airlines?
www.gemcorptraining.blogspot.com
is a blog on various thoughts on good customer service, the benefits, the techniques, and where its offered.
Power Again
Buy a Generator #2
I did get a comment or two from people who didn’t think the investment for a generator was valid. Well, if you go without power for more than 24 hours I bet you will change your mind. Walking through the house by candlelight was cool, different, and mellow, and a welcomed change. However, finding my fish and other frozen goods thawed and ruined was a big bummer. And not being able to work from home, charge my phone, go in the spa, play my guitar, and keep the beer cold was the last straw.
Our situation began on Tuesday August 7th, 2007 when Via Lorado started experiencing a brown out – this means that there was about half power and some lights would work. Other appliances that required more power wouldn’t, for example, some TV’s, microwave, spa equipment, router and computer. Tuesday night our block went to black out – no power!
Our block Via Lorado and Via Marie Celeste had no power all day Wednesday and I am not sure if other blocks were affected too. On Thursday August 9th a total of 7 generators were delivered to our neighborhood. I was told that each generator can power about 10 homes. Surrounding streets Via Victoria and parts of Via Rivera were affected too. The generator can successfully distribute power to the block and all appliances and equipment can run normally. However, they are pretty loud, you can smell the diesel fumes, and it gives me an uneasy feeling that our block is running off a generator, furthermore, I expect another outage. And sure enough, Saturday morning, August 11th our power was off again. This time it was only about 10 homes as our local generator oil pump failed and the unit needed to be replaced. It was a bummer that the replacement was about twice as loud as the last one, I can hear it all night, but we do have power :)
I did get a comment or two from people who didn’t think the investment for a generator was valid. Well, if you go without power for more than 24 hours I bet you will change your mind. Walking through the house by candlelight was cool, different, and mellow, and a welcomed change. However, finding my fish and other frozen goods thawed and ruined was a big bummer. And not being able to work from home, charge my phone, go in the spa, play my guitar, and keep the beer cold was the last straw.
Our situation began on Tuesday August 7th, 2007 when Via Lorado started experiencing a brown out – this means that there was about half power and some lights would work. Other appliances that required more power wouldn’t, for example, some TV’s, microwave, spa equipment, router and computer. Tuesday night our block went to black out – no power!
Our block Via Lorado and Via Marie Celeste had no power all day Wednesday and I am not sure if other blocks were affected too. On Thursday August 9th a total of 7 generators were delivered to our neighborhood. I was told that each generator can power about 10 homes. Surrounding streets Via Victoria and parts of Via Rivera were affected too. The generator can successfully distribute power to the block and all appliances and equipment can run normally. However, they are pretty loud, you can smell the diesel fumes, and it gives me an uneasy feeling that our block is running off a generator, furthermore, I expect another outage. And sure enough, Saturday morning, August 11th our power was off again. This time it was only about 10 homes as our local generator oil pump failed and the unit needed to be replaced. It was a bummer that the replacement was about twice as loud as the last one, I can hear it all night, but we do have power :)
I did go to home depot and buy a 5000 watt generator for $599. It runs on gas and can supply power for almost 11 hours if running at 50%. A standard refrigerator runs on about 500 watts, so I can run several appliances and still be under 50%. I told my neighbor who had lost a bunch of food in the last outage that I have an extension cord that would reach their house to at least save the frozen items.
What bothers me is the lack of attention from our local power company. Why haven’t they told us the problem or when it will be fixed. With today’s technology you would think they would set up some sort of information system to help the neighborhood understand what is going on. Well, I did..
http://palosverdeslife.blogspot.com/
or go to http://www.thepvlife.com/
I hope that my neighbors can come to this site to gather current information, share information, and also grieve or advocate their feelings on this issue. I have heard that these generators will be our power source for the next four weeks – and that the power company does not know what the problem is. Maybe we can gain enough attention to be properly notified.
Pt Vicente Power Problems
We should all buy generators.
This week our local block suffered a brown out for two days – I guess it was Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday we lost power completely. After 24 powerless hours many neighbors were scurrying to buy ice and preserve what they could out of the leaky freezer. I am a fisherman and my freezer is stocked with fish. I should of went to Home Depot last nite and bought a generator. I probably will tomorrow. Then at least I could have saved some food. And what if I did have a live fish tank – all the filters and pumps would have stopped and my aquarium would have died. The source of the problem is still unknown and our entire block is being powered by a diesel generator down the street.
It really sucks that Edison didn’t bring out this generator earlier – I don’t like the idea of being powered by a diesel generator anyways – I should probably get a battery backup for my computer too. Our block had a similar situation a month or so ago and then a few months before that as well. There was no notice or support announcement to the status of this problem and when it will be resolved. I was thinking about having the neighbors get together in some form to call attention to this lack of communication.
To top it off the Water and Power Company was here most of the afternoon checking the sewer for several residents had blockage – must be a coincidence.
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