BAKERSFIELD, CA-- Mary Ann Krating is upset that Pacific Gas and Electric is scheduled to remove a utility pole in her backyard Thursday, causing a power outage for up to eight hours for her and her surrounding neighbors.
She lives in the 3700 block of Loma Vista Court.
Krating thinks the job could have happened earlier this year or be pushed back to a cooler month.
"PG&E has come back into our yard several times over, I don't know how many months, to look at his pole,” Krating said. “It's been months not just within the last week or so. They have known about this pole for a while."
We spoke to Denny Boyles from PG&E Sunday by phone.
"The condition of the pole warranted a quicker repair and unfortunately we can't always wait for cooler weather,” Boyles said. “If we don't do the outage in a controlled manner and that equipment fails later you can have more customers affected and affected for a longer period of time."
Without electricity Krating is worried about spoilage.
PG&E said customers can submit claims for damages like spoilage and each claim is handled on a case by case basis.
For other residents on the block they are worried about their elderly neighbors who may not have a place to go.
"Why pick a week that is going to be torturous to an neighborhood that has old people and kids,” said neighbor Nicky Votaw. “I mean you are torturing families. A lot of my neighbors they don't have anybody else to stay with."