Mutual aid assistance from fellow California public power utility Burbank Water and Power played a key role in Anaheim Public Utilities being able to bring power back to its customers in the wake of outages during a recent heat wave in the state.
The excessive heat took a toll on the system of Anaheim Public Utilities -- mostly transformers that needed replacement – “and required us to call on a number of linemen, troubleshooters, operators, inspectors, warehouse staff, substation electricians, customer service reps” and external crews, noted Melissa Seifen, a spokesperson for Anaheim Public Utilities.
Outages in Anaheim began Friday, September 5, and all customers were restored by early Tuesday morning.
“With resources stretched thin across Southern California, we requested mutual aid from the local municipalities and thankfully the City of Burbank Water and Power responded and sent a crew,” Seifen said.
She said that the Burbank Water and Power crew was a great help and “we couldn’t have made it through without them.”
There is a mutual aid agreement in place, noted Mayra Vega, a spokesperson for Anaheim Public Utilities. “We contacted our mutual aid partners and Burbank Water and Power was able to provide a six-man crew to assist us,” she said in an email.
On its Facebook page, Anaheim Public Utilities offered thanks to Burbank Water and Power, as well as contract crews from Parkia Inc. and Asplundh Tree Expert LLC.
“Final appreciation goes our customers for their patience this weekend!”
Anaheim Public Utilities operates the only municipal electric system in Orange County.
Several days of intense heat and a spike in power demand stressed the California power grid recently, with the California Independent System Operator issuing calls for conservation and the Secretary of Energy issuing an emergency order to help preserve the reliability of the state’s grid.
