Asks Burbank to Pay $25,000 Repair Bill : Voltage Ruining TVs, Hotel Owner Says

Burbank hotel owner Joe Perry wants the city to pay his television repair bills.

Perry, who owns the Holiday Inn in downtown Burbank, has blamed the city’s electrical system for shorting out almost 300 hotel television sets over the past two years. He claims fluctuating voltage from a nearby electrical substation has burned out the televisions, forcing him to pay at least $25,000 in repair bills.

Perry, 62, told the Burbank City Council this week that he wants the city to repair the electrical system and reimburse him for the TV repairs.

“The sets are getting burned up all over the place,” said Perry, who also owns Holiday Inns in Glendale and Long Beach.

‘Customers Get Upset’

“The electricity goes wild all the time here,” Perry said. “Customers who pay $62 to $70 a night to stay here really get upset when their television sets go out.”

Most appliances and televisions are built to handle up to 120 volts, said Thomas McCauley, general manager of the city’s Public Service Department.

Perry said he has repeatedly asked the city to provide him with 110 volts of electricity “but they’ve never done that.” He said that, according to his television repairman, the power he receives ranges between 92 and 132 volts. “It’s even gotten as high as 135 volts.”

A power engineering professor from the University of Southern California, T. C. Cheng, said a television set should not normally short out at several volts above 120. “Appliances like that are built to withstand a lot more than 120 volts,” he said.

Damage Doubted

McCauley said the hotel would experience a slightly higher voltage rate than the rest of the area because it is only a few blocks from the substation.

“It’s possible he’s receiving more voltage, but it’s unlikely that much damage would be caused to a television over a short period of time,” he said. “The exposure to a high voltage would have to be long-term, and we have regulators to prevent that.”

McCauley said he has had no other complaints of power outages or damaged appliances near the hotel. Managers of several businesses around the Holiday Inn said they had experienced no similar electrical problems.

McCauley said he wants to meet with Perry to examine the problem before making a decision on the validity of Perry’s claims.