(PHOTO DATED 6/20/17) 6/23/17, 4:30pm – Bear Valley Electric Press Release: Due to damage caused by the Holcomb Fire to Southern California Edison’s (SCE) power lines that feed Big Bear Valley from Lucerne, SCE has been conducting repairs as efficiently as possible while minimizing interruptions to service. Tomorrow, Saturday June 24, 2017, SCE will be attempting to replace a critical pole by utilizing a helicopter and the power supply from Lucerne. SCE has notified Bear Valley Electric the estimated outage window will be from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in order to safely complete this work. Actual times may vary. During this outage, BVES customers will be limited to the SCE supply lines from Redlands that have a greatly reduced capacity and our small generation facility. We strongly urge customers to reduce consumption during this outage period so that we may distribute the limited power available to as many customers as possible. At approximately 9 am, the following areas may be affected with rolling blackout power outages depending on the actual system load at that time: Fawnskin, parts of Bear City, Moonridge, Sugarloaf, Erwin Lake, and Lake Williams. BVES will swap out the above listed areas approximately every two hours. Residents in these areas should be prepared for these outages. BVES will make every attempt possible to minimize the outages to only time necessary. Upon completion of the SCE work (approximately 1 pm), BVES will re-align the power system to restore it to its most reliable line-up. This will require all customers experiencing a minor 5-10 minute outage to safely make the switch over. We will do our very best to maintain power to critical infrastructure, emergency and essential services, and to limit the duration of this mandatory maintenance outage. We greatly appreciate the patience our customers have demonstrated throughout this trying week. Thank you for your understanding and support. Customers should report any downed power lines by calling (800) 808-2837 and stay clear to ensure safety. When filing a report, please provide your contact information. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911.
