SoCal Edison forced to cut residents’ power at RV park
Residents in a San Bernardino County mobile home park have been scrambling after their electricity was suddenly cutoff more than 24 hours ago, leaving families, elderly residents and others with medical conditions in the lurch.
Many of the increasingly frustrated residents at Fisherman’s Retreat, an RV park off San Timoteo Canyon Road in Redlands, told KTLA’s Shelby Nelson that they are caught between Southern California Edison and Halo Resorts Inc., the owners of the park.
“Unfortunately, we’ve been told by the electric company that the people that run the place haven’t paid the bill for the last couple of months,” Pete Ridder, who has lived in the RV park for 12 years said.
A lot of the residents of Fisher’s Retreat have resorted to candles and flashlights at night, but that doesn’t help keep them warm as the temperatures drop in the evening.
“How do you do that people?” said resident Denise Mahmet. “I have a breathing machine I have to use. I can’t do that without electricity. I slept in the lodge last night on the floor, me, my husband and my dog.”
A communal space within the park, the lodge is the only area that still has electric power.
Residents told KTLA that they received a letter from Halo Resorts Inc. last Thursday. They had been paying the company a monthly lump sum for their space, which included electricity.
The notice informed residents that Halo Resorts would no longer be providing electricity to their spaces and that they should contact SoCal Edison to start their own services. It gave them 14 days to transfer to the utility company, but less than one week later, their power was shut off.
Mahmet said she reached out to SoCal Edison for electric service and was told that it couldn’t be done.
“It’s not possible because everybody is wired into the mainframe here and it’s under Halo Resorts’ name,” she explained. “So, there’s nothing we can do.”
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KTLA attempted to contact the manager, but the person was not on the property at the time. A call to the property’s office number was routed to a person who said they were just a volunteer. Residents gave KTLA a number of someone they said was an owner of the park, but those calls also went unanswered.
On the other side of the park, there are temporary camping spots for people staying a short amount of time, who do have electricity, leaving residents who have paid their monthly bill to Halo Resorts Inc. wondering where their money is going.
When asked for comment, SoCal Edison said they were limited in what they could say.
“We know not having electricity can be a hardship for everyone affected,” said Reggie Kumar of Southern California Edison. “However, SCE is not at liberty to discuss private account information.”
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