GWP barely misses power-outage goal

When it comes to Glendale Water & Power’s ability to keep power flowing, weather is king.

The utility saw slightly more power outages on average — and longer ones at that — this year than last, according to city records. The difference can mostly be attributed to weather, said Principal Electric Engineer Henry Abrari.

“More rain, more wind, more stormy weather, that creates more outages,” he said.

According to a report released to the Glendale Water & Power Commission Monday, the average outage time per customer over the past 12 months ending in November was 42 minutes, higher than the utility’s goal of 40 minutes per customer.

About 91,043 customers were affected by outages during the time period. The utility plugs that number into a formula to create a System Average Interruption Frequency Index, which last year was 1.10, slightly higher than the goal of one outage per customer.

The average outage time per customer during the previous time period was 35 minutes, according to GWP records. About 79,697 customers were affected by outages during that time, equating to a frequency index of .96, coming in slightly better than the utility’s goal.

Strong winds last week blew power outages into Glendale, affecting about 10,000 customers, many from the Glenoaks Canyon and La Crescenta areas, Abrari said. Those outages, which could have been worse if not for an aggressive tree-trimming program, are not included in the 12-month report, he said. The longest outage following the storm lasted about nine hours and 30 minutes.

“We experienced a storm like we haven’t seen in Glendale in decades,” said Glendale Water & Power General Manager Glenn Steiger.