Sierra Madre residents press Southern California Edison after string of outages; council seeks detailed reliability briefing

Sierra Madre residents pressed Southern California Edison on Sept. 9 after repeated outages that in some cases left medically vulnerable neighbors without power.

Why it matters: Council members and residents described repeated short outages and longer interruptions this summer and early September. Several speakers said outages left people who rely on medical oxygen scrambling in the dark; one resident said a family member “will die if she doesn't have her oxygen plugged in.” The city asked Edison for a detailed reliability review and asked for follow-up at the Sept. 23 council meeting.

Edison representative Connie Turner, who said she has worked at the utility for 35 years, told the council she hears residents’ concerns and will return September 23 with engineers and district operations staff. “Whenever a circuit trips, we are mandated to drive that whole circuit before we can turn back up power,” Turner said, explaining why restorations can take longer in high fire-risk areas.

Residents at the meeting described multiple local outages in recent days, and some recounted experiences during the 2024 fire-related de-energization. Linda Comstock and Judy Webb Martin said outages repeatedly affect the same neighborhoods and pose direct health risks to neighbors dependent on electric medical equipment. Todd Conrad, a former Los Angeles Water & Power employee, urged more consistent relay checks and criticized outages that lasted “in excess of an hour” and sometimes several hours.

Council members asked Edison for data the city can use to assess trends and improvements. Council members asked for: circuit-level outage history, the utility's SAIDI/SAIFI/Sustained Interruption trends for the city back to 2020, clarity on whether the Baldwin circuit has been prioritized for upgrades, and the status of any undergrounding plans that could reduce overhead failures.

On customer-side relief, Turner noted SCE maintains a medical baseline program that requires physician documentation and registration so customers using life-sustaining equipment are flagged in the company database. She also said customer programs such as rebates and pilot programs for batteries exist and can be included in the Sept. 23 presentation.

Council direction and next steps: The council asked the city manager to press for Edison's Sept. 23 presentation to include circuit maps, outage tallies and durations for affected customers, a timeline of past and planned upgrades, and available customer programs for battery backup and medical-baseline enrollment. Turner confirmed Edison will present those materials at the Sept. 23 meeting.

What stayed unresolved: Residents asked about undergrounding and whether particular circuits had received upgrades; Turner said she would report back after coordinating with engineering. Residents also asked whether automated customer notices could include cause text; Turner said she would take the request back to engineering.

Ending note: The council did not adopt an ordinance or requirement regarding the utility; rather, it requested a detailed technical briefing and pledged to keep the issue on the agenda while examining potential local mitigation such as community battery programs and better customer outreach.