Edison Rep Says Communication Has Improved Since Windstorm Power Outages

After a devastating windstorm in November of 2011 left hundreds of thousands of customers in the San Gabriel Valley without power for days, Southern California Edison (SCE) came under fire after some local residents and elected officials called the company's response to the emergency slow and disorganized.

The storm knocked down 200 utility poles, uprooted 1,300 trees and left 439,000 customers without power, some for more than seven days.

In the aftermath, the company commissioned an independent report to evaluate how it responded to the storm. Ben Wong, a public relations representative for SCE, spoke at the Crescenta Valley Town Council meeting on May 16 and discussed a number of upgrades the company has made to its communication system as a result of the report.

"One of the areas that we knew we needed to improve on was communication. So we’ve created a number of communication channels that you as customers and residents have available to you," Wong said.

One tool Wong mentioned is the company's website www.sce.com/outage, which has an outage map that can be searched by zip code, address or city to get updates on power outages. There is also a Facebook page, which was launched a few weeks after the storm, and a Twitter account that can provide detailed updates.

Wong also reminded the council of the company's phone information line, which is 1-800-655-4555, and also gave them a packet which included an 877 phone number available to elected officials in the San Gabriel Valley.

"The number can be used during a widespread outage, so at a minimum we can get information to your elected officials," Wong said.

After his presentation, a number of council members thanked Wong, but added that they were very frustrated with the company's response to the storm.

"Believe me, a lot of that criticism was flowing internally as well. We were almost as frustrated as you," Wong said.