MALIBU—Southern California Edison responded to a power outage that occurred in the Malibu Colony area on Tuesday, July 14. Residents reported a power line being down near Los Angeles County Fire Station 88 on Malibu Road.
Nearly 500 SCE customers were affected by the outage. At approximately 8 p.m. on July 14, all but 145 customers regained power in their residence. Full power was restored for all residents affected by the outage by 11 p.m.
According to Southern California Edison, outages may occur during:
- Traffic accidents when power lines are damaged when cars crash into utility poles
- High temperatures when the use of heavy air conditioning may overload power lines and transformers
- Severe weather when heavy rains or high winds can damage power lines
- Natural disasters when earthquakes and fires can damage power lines.
Different types of outages identified by Southern California Edison include repair outages, maintenance outages, rotating outages, and public safety power shutoffs.
In a repair outage, outages are caused by unexpected circumstances such as traffic accidents or severe weather.
In a maintenance outage, a scheduled outage occurs when SCE turns utility power off for equipment upgrades. SCE personnel are required to notify residents at least three days before a maintenance outage.
Rotating outages are considered an extremely rare, controlled power outage that is enacted as a last resort when there is a statewide Stage 3 Emergency declared. For one hour at a time, SCW shuts down power by geographical groups known as “Rotating Outage Groups” or “Rotating Outage Group Blocks” to help ease the demand on the electrical grid. Rotating Outages help prevent larger and longer power outages.
During public safety power shut off events, SCE turns off power to help reduce the risk of wildfires. These events will primarily be called during extreme and potentially dangerous weather conditions. Affected customers will be notified approximately 48 hours in advance of a potential PSPS event. Additional notifications will be made throughout the outage when power has been shut off and when it has been restored.
