SCE
Responsibility
Your safety and convenience is our business
When a power outage occurs, Southern California Edison goes into action with a detailed plan, which identifies the problem and sets work priorities with regard to public safety. As SCE is restoring power, numerous tasks happen simultaneously. These efforts include communicating with emergency personnel, the media and with you through our website and call center.
Phase One: Visibly Assessing the Situation
During a power outage, SCE is primarily concerned with the safety of the public and our employees. Members of the SCE team are cross-trained in power outage response. We will send workers into the field to locate and monitor safety hazards such as downed wires and poles. Our crews then make sure electricity has been turned off to them to keep you and your family safe. At the same time, other crews are making sure power is flowing to critical facilities, including hospitals, police and fire stations, water treatment facilities and other essential services.
Under severe circumstances, it may take us some time to assess all the damage before we can begin to report on our progress. Please be patient. We can only begin to repair when we fully understand how badly a storm may have damaged our distribution system. Remember: always assume any downed wire is "live" and avoid all downed wires or areas with branches on wires. Report these situations to local police and fire officials.
Phase Two: Repairing Damage to Substations and Power Lines
Substations are critical to power restoration. These buildings house much of our electrical equipment and serve as a key point for large numbers of customers and geographic areas. The main electric lines carry the power from the substation to the wires that feed power to the streets. In order to restore power to your home, our power distribution infrastructure must first be repaired.
Phase Three: Restoring Power to Homes
Once the substations, main electric lines and wires feeding the street have been repaired, we can then restore power to individual homes. You may notice that your power is out while your neighbor's is not. Most likely, your home may be on a different circuit or line, which is in the process of being restored. Please be assured we are working as quickly as possible to turn your lights back on.
