A couple of weeks ago, Southern California Edison shut down power in parts of Mammoth Lakes during the day to perform maintenance on equipment. Wednesday, Edison plans to shut off power all night to a large number of Edison customers in Bishop.
Dan Brady, Edison Public Affairs Manager, said that the company sent out mailers and made phone calls to give Edison customers a heads up on Wednesday night’s power outage. Brady said the outage will last from 11pm to 6am. He said the purpose of the outage is to allow crews to perform maintenance and equipment replacement at the Mt. Tom Sub-Station off of Highway 168.
Brady said the Mt. Tom Station is “an integral part of our power system for Bishop.” Asked why Edison waited until November when the night-time temperatures have dropped below freezing, Brady said that in August and September workers found out that the work had to be done and placed requests for necessary equipment. Brady said everything fell into place now. He said Edison knows it’s cold now, but that the work must be done.
He strongly urged customers to use flashlights instead of candles Wednesday night, and to hook up generators outside and plug directly into the generator. He suggested having plenty of blankets on hand and possibly sleeping bags to stay warm. Brady said it is his best understanding that power will come back on by 6am Thursday morning.
Since the outage covers a number of Edison customers, Brady said local law enforcement will have extra patrols. Facilities like Northern Inyo Hospital and Bishop Care Center have back-up generators to keep things going during the outage.
At Sierra Wave Media headquarters we also have a back-up generator to keep our stations going.
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The nasty wind storm with the downed power lines never happened last week. We could have been without power for several days instead of 8 hours. No frozen pipes THAT time. Portable generators are a lot cheaper than they used to be. If you rely on electricity, (most of us do), then maybe consider getting one. If an announced, eight hour blackout causes this much grief, then you are in very bad shape for a disaster.
I’m not even a little happy about this BUT we haven’t been hit by hurricane force winds driving several feet of salt water through our homes. Put a hot water bottle in the foot of your bed and be happy they are fixing it before it breaks down at a worse time with a longer downtime. The timing is bad but it really could be wayyyyy worse!
Things can always be worse and is poor justification for a utility company ignoring the basic needs of its’ customers. Edison has always worked as it suits them and the citizens of Bishop are required to suffer through it unless they have access to alternative energy sources.
Another example of big business and their bottom line agenda.
I truly find it hard to believe that Edison would choose this time of year in the middle of the night to perform this maintenance. Total bad planning in terms of ordering what was needed in a timely manner.
My horses won’t appreciate completely frozen water tanks. Neither will my husband who will have to try to refill them in the morning from frozen water pipes. This house has poor insulation (we’re renters), and we use a pellet stove and electric heaters for heat – there is no propane. Typical Edison stupidity for taking so long. I’d still rather pay them than DWP, but geeze!!!
Chris – a car battery and a 12vdc water heater element will keep your horses water from freezing in an emergency. Stick with the pellet stove, those electric heaters will really run your bill up.
http://www.hydrogenappliances.com/hotwater.html
Hey, I’m actually glad I have DWP for once. Plus their cheeper. Why’s that?
Are you kidding me? Edison are you ready to pay for my frozen pipes? This has to wait until next year!