The new average is down from a high of about 3.25 outages per customer in mid-2006, when the power grid was plagued with aging equipment and a reduced ability to move electricity between the south and north portions of the city.
In 2005, an electrical storm took out a seven-mile stretch of transmission lines that spans the Verdugo Mountains into north Glendale. The number of power outages spiked to 138 for 2006.
Continued replacement of faulty and old equipment, aggressive tree trimming, a conversion to higher-voltage lines and repair to the Verdugo Mountain transmission lines have since brought that back down to 65 outages for 2007 and 38 outages so far this year, Glendale Water & Power officials said.
“We expect to only get better,” said Ramon Abueg, electrical services administrator for the utility, adding that his crews were “working hard to make continuous improvements to the system.”
Summer months typically bring the heaviest demands on the city’s power grid as air conditioners kick into high gear, but even as the system’s infrastructure becomes more reliable internally, it remains vulnerable to outside forces, power officials said.
Over the past 36 months, 157 of the 218 power outages with known causes were attributed to outside forces, such as animals, wind, fire, Mylar balloons and lightning, according to a report to the Glendale Water & Power Commission on Wednesday.
Mylar balloons have caused 25 of those outages, often when party-goers release them in celebration, or when they become detached from their anchors, power officials said.
