Planned power outages in high heat baffle local residents
It’s a worst case scenario that was very familiar for nearly 1,000 Coachella residents earlier today. Triple-digit heat paired with a power outage can prove to be a dangerous combination, but in the above-mentioned instance, the outage came out of the blue.
To the northwest, an outage struck Desert Hot Springs in the morning, but it came with a warning. Southern California Edison notified about 100 DHS residents that there would be a planned power outage from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., for the sake of equipment upgrades. The timing, according to those residents, couldn’t be worse.
“It’s the worst time of year to do it right now. I mean, it’s really really really hot,” said George Fuerte, a DHS resident who lost power. “It doesn’t matter how coated your windows are – it’s just gonna get hot and then some of us have kids you know we need to keep them cool.”
The planned outage, as it turns out, was actually against SCE policy.
“We look at the temperatures on a daily basis. And if it is above 105 degrees we look to reduce the scope of the work,” Jennifer Cusack, a spokesperson for SCE said. “And if its above 113 we will cancel all routine maintenance unless its necessary to maintain that reliability.”
The forecasted high for Desert Hot Springs today was 114 degrees, above SCE’s outage threshold.
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