After three widespread power outages in four weeks left Long Beach residents frustrated with a lack of communication and slow response times, city leaders held a town hall meeting to address these concerns Saturday.
State and local representatives, including those from power company Southern California Edison and the Public Utilities Commission, heard from residents who called for improved communication between SCE officials and city leaders.
"It’s clear we could have done a better job with communicating, specifically leveraging social media better," said Gregory Ferree of SCE. "In the after hours, the late-night hours, the frequency of our information was diminished, and we received that feedback very early on in the first event."
Law enforcement members and state representatives voiced concern about a lack of information provided to the public by SCE.
"There was no sense of understanding if it was going to be a day, two days, three days, so that the community could plan accordingly," said Mike Gipson, a state assemblyman whose district includes north Long Beach.
The three power outages occurred on July 15, July 30, and August 15. The first two outages were caused by underground vault explosions, and left thousands of residents in the dark, some for as long as three days.
The first outage affected more than 30,000 customers, with more than 6,000 people without power for at least a day. Nearly 18,000 customers were affected in the second outage, SCE said.
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The third outage on August 15 was caused by a fire and likely not connected with the previous two outages in July, according to SCE. Power was restored for most residents affected within a few hours.
During the meeting, residents voiced frustration over spoiled food that had to be thrown away as a result of the outage, and there was concern for senior citizens and those with disabilities who needed electricity to provide oxygen, power elevators, and keep medications refrigerated.
"We’re talking about seniors that were trapped in their apartment buildings, or their homes, without electricity, without ventilation,” Gipson said. "Their food had to be thrown away as a result of that, some of them were on oxygen. People were held captive in their own place."
SCE said that residents who meet certain criteria, such as having a medical condition, are tagged in their customer database and receive increased attention in emergency situations such as extended power outages.
Residents who were without power for more than 24 hours in either or both of the first two outages received a $100 bill credit from SCE.
Gary Shelton, a Long Beach resident affected by the outage, said he was concerned about the slow response time from SCE and about residents who had special needs, but said that the monetary compensation seemed fair.
"Edison I think is very generous with the $100 that they’ve offered to each consumer of electricity," Shelton said. "The people that felt that they needed to ask for additional help in recovering their losses, we’ve been encouraged to go ahead and make that claim, and I think they’re also being very responsive with that."
SCE is conducting its own investigation into the outages and hired Davies Consulting to assist, however state representatives including Senator Ricardo Lara and Assemblyman Gipson have pushed for an independent investigation to be conducted.
"They hired a consultant without informing and also getting consultation and direction from the city which, again, concerns me," Gipson said. "What I’ve heard is a lot of lip service. I don’t think they actually really have a solution in terms of what they’re going to put in place in case this happens again."
