Perpetual power outages plague the Aptos community
jose.romo
APTOS, Calif. (KION-TV) — People living in the Seascape and La Selva are frustrated after numerous power outages in the last couple of weeks. Many of them are uncertain why these are taking place. The last couple of weeks have been a frustrating struggle for residents. Many of them are going onto social media asking others with similar complaints to report them to PG&E.
“The power outages have definitely been happening more frequently, from what I’ve noticed,” said Giana Cacciatore. “I’d say generally we’ve had one within the past couple of weeks, every week, and it’s absolutely very impactful.”
The most recent outage was just last night. Residents said they were without power for 3 to 4 hours.
“When it’s after work, it’s kind of a bummer because it’s like affecting our ability to make dinner, warm up dinner, specifically last night,” said Lauren Heller, who lives in Seascape. “Even just showering, like it’s dark at those hours. So it’s, like, okay, maybe we’ll wait till the electricity comes back on to shower.”
PG & E says the community is in a high fire risk district protected by enhanced powerline safety settings. This enables powerlines to shut off within one-tenth of a second when a hazard comes into contact with the powerline. In a statement, they said, “Vegetation and animal-related outages are among the primary causes. Our crews are actively clearing vegetation and retrofitting equipment in the area to help prevent animal-related outages and protect wildlife.”
“Sometimes when I’m in meetings, my internet just goes down, and I also facilitate workshops and stuff like that,” said Laya Mosher. “So it’s kind of embarrassing when I am like leading something and then, you know, all of a sudden it’s just like the power is out,
Community members are concerned about the recurring nature of these power outages, many times for hours on end. They asked for better communication regarding the reasons for these outages from PG&E.
PG&E said engineers are looking to separate the circuit so that coastal communities are no longer served by protected EPSS lines. Upgrades at their nearest substation are impacting the scale of the outages.
“It’s just kind of crazy to even like we pay quite a bit to live here, so it’s pretty frustrating,” adds Heller. “I don’t know if this is like a long-term place for us to live, honestly, because of that.”
PG&E adds that they are working to upgrade substations in the area, as they are currently being served by a neighboring station, which is impacting outages. They say these upgrades will improve reliability long term.