Palm Springs residents raise concerns over poor SCE communication during weekend power outages
Shay Lawson
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – A weekend storm that knocked out power to parts of Palm Springs has renewed long-running frustrations over outages, delayed repairs and what residents describe as poor communication from Southern California Edison (SCE).
Jeff Monford, SCE spokesperson, said crews dealt with the most rain they’d seen in a long time.
“Our crews work to restore power as quickly as they can do so safely,” Monford said.
He said some neighborhoods near Chia Road, faced longer delays due to the position of some power poles.
“Power poles are not accessible from the street via truck. They’re in backyards,” Monford said. “That means that repair work can sometimes take longer when crew members have to go in backyards and climb the poles themselves, as opposed to reach them from their truck. They can do that work mostly during daylight. As you can imagine, it’s not safe otherwise.”
But Phillip Zamudio, Palm Springs resident, who remained without electricity for nearly 22 hours, said he woke up to 3 SCE workers trying to scale his back wall without warning.
“It just shows you the overall lack of transparency and communication that was received during the entire outage,” Zamudio said. “To not notify us to say there could be SCE employees that would need to gain access to your backyard, super concerning.”
Zamudio also raised concerns about restoration estimates, food and medication loss and reports of downed power lines sitting unaddressed.
Monford said crews were responding to a large number of outages.
“The most important thing to know about a downed wire is to stay away from it at least 100 feet and call 911,” Monford said.
While investigating the weekend outages, News Channel 3’s Shay Lawson also identified a second neighborhood facing separate electrical issues, including repeated power surges that residents said have caused thousands of dollars in damage.
SCE has not yet answered questions about the ongoing surge problems affecting the second neighborhood near Racquet Club Road.
Stay with News Channel 3 at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. for the full story.