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SCE outlines PSPS alerts, battery and hotel assistance and long-term undergrounding timelines
Summary
A Southern California Edison representative briefed Carpinteria councilmembers about Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) procedures, customer notifications, critical-battery and hotel assistance programs, and ongoing infrastructure upgrades including covered conductors and multi-year undergrounding projects.
A Southern California Edison representative told the Carpinteria City Council on Nov. 24 that the utility has expanded PSPS notification and customer-support measures while actively pursuing infrastructure upgrades intended to reduce fire risk.
The presenter described how SCE monitors weather 4–7 days ahead of potential PSPS events, activates an incident-management team three days before a possible shutoff, and uses email, text and voice alerts plus an interactive outage map to reach customers. The representative said the outage map showed a planned outage that could affect 215 customers on Dec. 2 and highlighted customer programs including critical-battery support, battery-loan partnerships with the county and hotel coupons for affected customers.
On infrastructure, the presenter said SCE has upgraded approximately 119 miles of covered (insulated) conductors in the south Santa Barbara service area and is planning covered-conductor and undergrounding projects covering 161 planned miles with 15 miles remaining for underground work. He described cost and timeframe estimates for undergrounding — roughly $1 million per mile and multi-year schedules (about 18 months to four years depending on permitting and right-of-way constraints).
Council members asked why adjacent neighborhoods sometimes experience different outage outcomes. The utility explained that circuits and risk zoning determine which customers are shut off, and noted coordination with local fire agencies and the county. The presenter also described vegetation-management efforts and an inspection count of 749,000 trees in risk zones.
The utility representative encouraged residents to register contact preferences and to report outages via the outage portal or the city to help SCE confirm and locate incidents.
Council members thanked the presenter and asked SCE to provide more detailed reliability reports for Carpinteria when available.
