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Portantino Wants Utilities to be Prepared for Disasters
Arcadia Weekly Feb 16, 2012
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Wind Disaster Highlights Need for Better Planning (AB 1650)
In the wake of fierce winds and power outages that caused significant damage to parts of Southern California late last year, Assemblymember Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) has introduced a bill to improve emergency and disaster preparedness in California.
AB 1650 requires gas and electric companies to hold comprehensive disaster preparedness meetings every two years with the counties and cities they service in order to improve readiness and better prepare for future disasters. It also calls on the California Public Utilities Commission to use its regulatory authority to set preparedness standards for public utilities.
“We learned some things from this recent disaster that change how we look at these events,” explained Assemblymember Portantino. “Having utilities review their plans every two years will force better coordination, better service and better public safety. Many ratepayers may not know that a portion of their utility bills is intended to pay for emergency preparedness; let’s make sure it does.”
The San Gabriel Valley was hit hard in early December by devastating winds that knocked out power to nearly a quarter of a million customers, some of them for more than a week. In a preliminary report, the California Public Utilities Commission stated that in some cases, Southern California Edison’s equipment did not meet safety standards and that the utility was slow to restore power to homes and businesses. Local utilities also had trouble with communications plans.
“The purpose of these meetings is to inform the counties of emergency planning and to offer County Public Works Departments and the public, the opportunity to review and improve those plans,” explained Portantino. “We saw in this last disaster that communications were often incomplete or confusing and the public really had no idea what was going on. We all know the ‘Big One’ is coming- it’s just a matter of when – and we need to be prepared.”
Under AB 1650, gas and electric companies will be required to begin their disaster preparedness meetings within three months of the legislation becoming law.
