Dozens of families living in Rolling Hills, a small city on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, will be losing power and gas indefinitely by this Wednesday as land movement continues to pose potential public safety risks.
After SoCal gas announced it will be shutting off gas services to 34 homes by 3 p.m. Monday, Southern California Edison (SCE) also said 51 households will be losing power anytime by this Wednesday.
Southern California Edison explained that there are a number of repairs to be done in the area due to the “accelerating land movement and dynamic conditions in the area,” adding that it was no longer deemed safe to maintain its utility service.
“The rapid increase in fissures and impacts on SCE’s infrastructure means that the company cannot mitigate the public safety risk of downed poles and wires in this area,” the utility said in a statement to the community.
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City officials said they are working with the gas and utility companies to look for engineering solutions.
"The safety and well-being of our residents remains the city’s top priority, “ Rolling Hills Mayor Leah Mirsch said. “We are all impacted by the outages and are committed to holding the utility companies accountable – pushing them to implement solutions that will restore services both quickly and safely."
But one resident said the decision to shut off power and gas was “all liability driven.”
“I'm sure – from Edison and Southern California Gas attorneys – they're calling it safety, and the safety thing is complete BS. Total BS,” Charlie Raine, a Rolling Hills resident, said.
As Rolling Hills now faces the same fate as its neighboring cities of Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes, SoCalGas announced it will donate $50,000 to the Palos Verdes Peninsula Rotary Foundation in effort to establish a relief fund for those impacted by the land movement.
“A lot of people believe that living on the hill means you're wealthy, and that's not the case,” Grant Mogford, who operates a small business in the area, said. “Not everybody on the hill is wealthy, and there's a very diverse, mixed community.”
The gas company also urged residents not to attempt to restore natural gas service themselves or connect alternative fuels like propane to the natural gas meter.
