For workers, Public Power Week is a chance to educate
IMPERIAL — Beginning Monday, the Imperial Irrigation District will be recognizing Public Power Week along with its employees who work in this division.
Fabian Amparano, who has worked in IID’s power department for 13 years, said he and his colleagues simply try to restore power to residents who may have an outage, especially during the summer months.
He said when electrical workers need to restore the power to a residence or neighborhood, they do not want to disconnect the power to the area, so safety becomes paramount when working with live power lines.
Amparano said he likes the work.
“I like working with the crews. We are one big family,” he said.
“We are just trying to get things done safely. We cover as much as we can.”
Fernando Macias, who had been with the IID power division for about a year, said the job is simply a matter of providing power for families when it is needed.
He also said he likes that the job provides something different every day. For example, on Thursday the crew was working in El Centro, and on Friday, they were in Coachella.
Foreman Harry Nelson Jr., who has worked with the IID for 23 years, said National Power Week is supposed to be about educating the public, though nothing much will change for the workers.
“We try to educate the customers on the dangers (we address) and benefits we provide,” Nelson said. “Everything is different every day. You move around a lot and see different areas. A lot of people don’t know what we do.”
The IID will recognize National Power Week along with more than 2,000 other community- powered, not- forprofit electric utilities that provide electricity to 49 million people.
The district serves energy customers in the Imperial Valley and parts of the Coachella Valley and San Diego County, consisting of 157,000 residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial customer accounts.
“We’ve certainly seen our share of challenges this year,” said Marilyn del Bosque Gilbert, IID energy manager. “We continue to pull together with a common goal to keep the IID service area powered. We’ve proven that, despite the challenges, we power on.”
In recognition of Public Power Week, customers are encouraged to take advantage of using different IID websites to conduct free do- it- yourself energy assessments or to learn about electric vehicles and chargers currently on the market.
“Public power means our homes and businesses run on electricity that is provided by a not- for- profit and publicly- owned utility,” said IID Public Information Officer Robert Schettler. “Our core mission is to serve local citizens.”