Schools are in full swing celebrating the graduation season, but Southern California Edison is telling people to not turn the celebration into a blast—with metallic balloon-caused power outages.
Over the last five years, May and June—the graduation months—have statistically made up almost a third of foil balloon outages each year, according to the utility company. It was reported that 1.6 million customers of Edison were affected in 2021 alone and lost over 480 hours of power.
In 2017, there were 1,094 Edison balloon outages which increased to 1,103 in 2021. The year that marks the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020, had the lowest number at 1,005 as graduation and parties were canceled or stifled….