PASADENA (CBS)  — City officials warned residents Sunday against running high-voltage electricity to their homes for relief from recent power outages in Pasadena.

They remind the public the practice is not only illegal but highly-dangerous.

It was unclear when the practice began, but officials had been receiving reports of residents opening pole boxes at the bases of street lights and stringing wire from the boxes to their homes, Pasadena spokeswoman Ann Erdman said.

“The voltage in most boxes is much too high for individual homes,” Erdman said in a statement.

Power was restored to several homes today and Pasadena Water and Power crews will continue working through the night “and for as long as it takes to ensure power to all homes is restored as quickly as possible,” Erdman said.

Robinson Park Center, 1081 N. Fair Oaks Ave., opened at 7 p.m. to provide a warm shelter for residents still without power.

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