Utility giant Southern California Edison’s popularity contest in Lakewood is apparently far from over. The electric company started alienating its (sorry) power base last month when its workers quietly installed a 13-ton, 93-foot power pole at Centralia Street and Palo Verde Avenue, outside the home of Shelby and William Ranson.

“I think if SCE would have notified residents first, people wouldn’t have let them (install the pole), and now this is a mess,” Shelby Ranson told the Press-Telegram’s Samantha Gonzaga.

Gonzaga reports this morning that the Ransons have kicked things up a notch, filing a formal complaint against SCE with the California Public Utilities Commission.

They’re already getting results: because of the complaint, Lakewood spokesman Don Waldie told the P-T that a planned May 1 meeting between SCE and Lakewood city staff has been taken off calendar.

The Ranson’s complaint should be heard some time next month by Administrative Law Judge Hallie Yacknin. That’s right: Hallie Yacknin. The electric provider has until May 23 to respond.

Tags: California, California Public Utilities Commission, Don Waldie, Hallie Yacknin, lakewood, Long Beach, power pole, Shelby Ranson, Southern California, Southern California Edison, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, William Ranson