700+ impacted by maintenance outage in Santa Barbara despite heat warnings

–UPDATE–

A Southern California Edison spokesperson said power was restored at about 10:15 a.m. Friday for one of the neighborhoods undergoing a planned maintenance power outage.

Power is expected to be restored on a second planned outage at 2 p.m. Friday, according to the SCE spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that a third planned outage scheduled for the Mission Canyon area Saturday from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. has been canceled.

Southern California Edison released the following statement at 3 p.m. Friday:

Southern California Edison will reassess conditions and make adjustments or exceptions for maintenance outages in extreme weather, such as during this heat wave. SCE has completed today’s maintenance work as quickly and safely as possible and has canceled Saturday’s maintenance work in Mission Canyon.

SCE understands power outages are inconvenient, especially during hot weather, and SCE appreciates its customers’ patience. The two primary reasons for maintenance outages are to replace infrastructure or upgrade the grid. This is done to provide safe, reliable service for customers today and in the future.

While SCE tries to avoid maintenance outages during extreme heat, some work may have to proceed for public safety or to prevent an emergency and a longer, more drawn-out repair outage. Outages usually take much longer to restore when they are unplanned. When SCE needs to conduct a maintenance outage, it works hard to minimize the impacts to customers.

Notices of a rescheduled or canceled outage are generally provided one to three days in advance, whenever possible. However, unforeseen circumstances occasionally result in last-minute cancellations. Notifications are made via phone up to and including those that are canceled by noon the day before the scheduled outage.

Please refer to these stories for more information on maintenance outages:

https://www.insideedison.com/stories/sce-unveils-more-improvements-to-summer-and-fall-schedules-for-maintenance-outages https://www.insideedison.com/stories/maintenance-outages-are-inconvenient-but-heres-why-we-do-them

Approximately 755 people are impacted by a maintenance outage in Santa Barbara Friday despite Red Flag and Excessive Heat warnings, according to Southern California Edison (SCE).

The maintenance started at 6:30 a.m. and will go until 1:30 p.m. in the Mission Canyon area of Santa Barbara. Another outage is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. near Elings Park. Both projects are to replace poles.

CHECK TO SEE IF YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD IS IMPACTED

The maintenance is still going ahead as planned despite high temperatures, SCE said. The move has prompted outrage from community residents.

“Called Edison and they didn’t care that we have no electricity on the hottest day of the year so far! He said we needed to prepare for it! I said well our fans and air conditioning won’t work without electricity!” said one resident.

The resident continued, “I can’t drive a 4-year-old and a dog who’s neurotic and a handicap adult around in the car for hours! He [SCE representative] just said prepare for your electricity to go out and sure enough 5, minutes after the call they turned the electricity off!”

“That’s really screwed up…they couldn’t postpone this so that people could at least have fans during this heat?” posted one Facebook user.

“This is just plain stupid! Why on the hottest day!?” said another.

Several NewsChannel 3 staffers reached out to Edison for a comment or explanation on this matter and were referred back to SCE’s website. We are still waiting for a comment. We will add it to this story once we receive it.

One SCE employee working at the scene of one of the outages told our news crew that they were planning on turning the power back on soon due to the heat.

The Red Flag Warning started at 3 a.m. Friday and lasts until 6 p.m. Saturday. The Excessive Heat Warning goes from 10 a.m. Friday to 9 p.m. Saturday.

Both warnings impact Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.