Southern California Edison (SCE) has announced it will invest more than $35.1 million to upgrade distribution infrastructure that serves parts of Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, and West Hollywood.
The projects include the replacement or upgrade of underground vaults, underground or overhead utility lines and voltage capacity, which helps reliably manage more electricity demand.
The projects will run through the end of 2014, with some work already underway.
Installation of the new distribution equipment will help minimize the likelihood of unanticipated and extended outages in the Westside communities.
During a few of the projects, some residents and businesses will experience a planned power outage.
SCE will communicate with affected customers well in advance so they can make appropriate arrangements.
Work on some underground infrastructure could also lead to temporary lane closures and traffic delays.
Mark Olson, SCE local public affairs region manager for the Westside communities, said SCE is working with cities and community leaders to minimize the impact on businesses, customers and commuters.
“The company will be doing a lot of infrastructure improvement projects in the near future and it’s a priority for SCE to have an on-going dialogue with customers, businesses and city leaders so that the local community is not dramatically impacted by the construction work,” said Olson. “We need to complete these projects, but we’re also here to listen to questions and address concerns that folks might have.”
In the next two years, SCE plans to invest $1 billion to strengthen its system-wide distribution grid, which serves nearly 14 million people. The work in the Westside communities is just a subset of the many infrastructure improvement projects that will take place.
