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12 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JUNE 2021 Southern California is experiencing some unusual situations that may cause power outages. Whenever your power goes you want to know why it is out it is out and how long it is likely to be out. Our community is served by Southern California Edison. You can check to see why the power is out at your home by checking their website www.sce.com. One of the tabs is the Outage Center. You can view current outages under the tab "View Current Outages." Unless you know that your neighbors' power is out as well as your own, you may want to check your breaker box for a tripped breaker. If only part of your lights are out, this is most likely the cause. Just check to see which switch is facing the opposite direction of all the others. If all the power is out and your neighbor has power, check the large switch marked Main. Once you have determined that the power is out to more than just your home, check www.sce.com or call 1 (800) 655-4555 for more info. Your fastest results will be on the website as the wait for assistance on the phone may be lengthy. There are three types of outages — unplanned emergencies, maintenance outages, and Public Safety Power Shutoffs. Unplanned emergencies are typically a result of a downed power line, blown transformers, or other damage to the electrical grid. Most often these are caused by traffic accidents. In most cases, the power company can give you a good estimate of when the repairs will be made. Of course, these are not planned, and the power company can not provide advance notice of their occurrences. Maintenance outages are planned work on the electrical system for various reasons. The power company will always give you advance notice of when the work will occur and how long the power will be out. If you receive one of these notices, you can call the phone number on the notice for more information. Public Safety Power Shutoff events have been in the news lately. Most consumers equate them with wildfires; however, many other events may necessitate a shutoff. Southern California Edison has advised us that they use an algorithm to determine when the power needs to be shut off. They have not shared that algorithm with the public. Contrary to common opinion, predicted high winds are not the sole indicator of this type of power outage. You can sign up on www.sce.com to receive email or texts about outages near you. SCE tries to give advance notice of possible outages based on their algorithms. These Public Safety Power Shutoff notices are only that there is an elevated risk of an outage. An outage may or may not occur. If there is a widespread disaster and the power is out over a large geographical area for an extended time, city, county and state agencies have plans to address your needs. The ad hoc Power Outage Committee is working to provide information to help you cope with short-term outages. Consider the following when preparing for unplanned outages: • How will you open your garage door if the power is out? • How will you provide light if the power is out? • How will you charge your cell phone if the power is out? • Will your Wi-Fi work if the power is out? • How will you power your electric-powered medical devices? • How will you keep your refrigerated food from spoiling? • How will you prepare meals without power? • How will you heat/cool your home? • Do you have an adequate supply of medicines and prescriptions on hand? • How worried should you be? • What can I do to prepare for an outage? The ad hoc Power Out Committee is addressing each of these issues. We are placing short blurbs in the Daily Report and articles in the Breeze. Once we have addressed all these topics, we will prepare a final Breeze article containing the information. A copy of the handout will be available to all households in the community. Remember look for our Daily Report blurbs and check the mailers that are being sent by Southern California Edison for more information and guidance. ~ Steve Cooley