California PUC fines SoCal Ed for poor power line maintenance

San Francisco (Platts)--23Apr2004

The California Public Utilities Commission Thursday fined Southern California
Edison $656,000 mostly for 30 violations of the state's requirements for the
construction, operation, and maintenance of overhead and underground power
lines. The PUC, which fined SoCal Ed $20,000 for each of the 30 violations,
concluded that the utility either knew or should have known of the violation
and failed to fix the problem in a timely fashion. The PUC also fined SoCal Ed
$1,000 for each of 56 violations relating to its failure to identify unsafe
conditions. In its investigation, the PUC said that it examined SoCal Ed's
electric line construction, operation, and maintenance practices from 1998
through 2000. It ordered the Rosemead, California-based utility to refine its
maintenance priority system, including decreasing the amount of time for
making system repairs.

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