Reduce Your Energy Consumption

(Photos: SCE)

Source: Southern California Edison

So Cal Edison is requesting residential and commercial customers in the Santa Barbara area to significantly reduce power consumption to ease potential strain on the local system.

A local transmission emergency was declared by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) due to the loss of critical transmission lines serving the Ventura and Santa Barbara area, and SCE has requested additional generation units to support restoration of power for the impacted area.

Energy Conservation Tips:

• Turn off all unnecessary appliances and equipment.
• Turn off lights when leaving a room.
• Turn off holiday lights and decorations.
• Limit the opening and reopening of refrigerators, which are major users of electricity in most homes.

Fire and Wind-Related Update 

• The fire is continuing to threaten the transmission lines serving Santa Barbara.
• Due to high winds and increased Thomas fire activity, customers in the Montecito area (to the east of Santa Barbara) have experienced service interruptions.
• Electrical infrastructure in the Montecito area is threatened as winds continue and customers may experience further service interruptions.
• As of 3:00 p.m. at 12/16/17, there are 1,255 customers in the Montecito area without power. An additional 594 customers remain without power in other areas due to the Thomas fire. SCE system-wide there are 2,617 customers without power (that includes those impacted by the fires).
•  The damaged and replaced poles for the Thomas fire: 768 damaged; 582 replaced
• Generators have been deployed in numerous locations as repairs continue.

Thomas fire restoration effort

• After fire agencies allowed access, our crews completed damage assessments in 80 percent of the areas to which it has been granted access (many areas of the fire remain inaccessible) that were impacted by the Thomas fire.
• Following flight restrictions by fire agencies, aerial inspections continue this morning.
• Contingent on flight restrictions by fire agencies, aerial inspections began this morning in fire-affected areas.
• The current restoration effort for the Thomas fire is construction work on the local circuits that power the fire-affected areas. This includes engineering and design of all utility structures, and the installation of poles, transformers, switches, etc.
• Through preliminary damage assessments as well as reassessing resource needs, we have determined native and contractor resources are adequate to manage restoration requirements and, therefore, mutual assistance is not required at this time.
• Power will be restored to customer incrementally on a circuit by circuit basis.
• There is no specific order in which customers will have power restored beyond the accessibility to the fire-damaged areas. The only priorities that will be considered where accessibility isn’t an issue are essential services (police and fire facilities, hospitals, water and sewage facilities) and critical care customers.
• The last circuits to be rebuilt may take up to a week or more.

Customer Information

• We remind customers may report or inquire about outages at 800-611-1911 and get the latest information using the SCE outages app at sce.com/outages. Customers can also get the latest information by visiting www.sce.com/staysafe or at twitter.com/sce and facebook.com/sce.
• Many of the scheduled maintenance outages in areas affected by the fires will be rescheduled.
• If evacuees need the location of a shelter or other help, go to redcross.org and check the shelter map or download the Red Cross Emergency App. The app is available in app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.
• There are reports of individuals posing as Edison employees going to residences in fire areas attempting to enter homes. SCE employees will never enter a residence nor ask for cash payments for services. If you suspect suspicious activity, immediately call police.