SoCal Edison Asks Residents to Conserve Energy

Source: Santa Barbara County Joint Information Center

Southern California Edison (SCE) is asking all of us to conserve energy.  The Thomas Fire continues to cause intermittent outages and power surges in the Santa Barbara and Goleta areas, potentially affecting up to 85,000 customers. It is extremely important that all electrical resources are conserved, including unplugging all unused devices including holiday lights.

SCE is working to restore the power grid damaged by the fire and to shore up the power lines.  The weather is preventing a full investigation and restoration of their assets.  The fire is continuing to threaten the transmission lines serving Santa Barbara. Customers experiencing a service interruption do not need to call SCE to report a power outage. This keeps telephone lines open for other emergencies.

Please follow these tips:

• Residential and commercial customers should significantly reduce power consumption.
• Remember to check emergency supplies to be sure you have a battery-operated radio, a flashlight and fresh batteries.
• Power outages in the area may impact traffic signals, and vehicles should treat all intersection as four-way-stops.
• Water and electricity don’t mix. Do not step in or enter any water that a downed power line may be touching.
• If you use a generator, place it outdoors and plug individual appliances directly into it, using a heavy-duty extension cord. Connecting generators directly to household circuits creates “backfeed,” which is dangerous to repair crews.
• Do not use any equipment inside that is designed for outdoor heating or cooking.

For more information on power outages, visit Southern California Edison’s website at www.sce.com/outages.

Emergency Alert System: It is critical that people in Santa Barbara County register to receive emergency alerts. Sign up at www.AwareAndPrepare.org. If we can’t reach you, we can’t alert you.

Stay Connected: For ongoing updates, go to www.CountyofSB.org, follow @countyofsb on Twitter and Facebook, or call 2-1-1 from 805 area code, or 800-400-1572 outside of 805.