ComEd owes customers for summer outages: attorney general
January 27, 2012
(Updated Jan. 29.)
(Crain's) — Commonwealth Edison could be on the hook for damage claims caused by prolonged power outages if a state regulatory body agrees with a recent report accusing the utility of neglect.
The Illinois Attorney General's office filed a report stating that power failures from summer storms were the result of neglect and insufficient maintenance, according to a Chicago Tribune report. The report was filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission on Thursday.
ComEd, a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corp., has stated that the power outages were related to nature, not neglect.
The Illinois Attorney General's office, however, issued a detailed list on how ComEd's failings led to customers in 12 suburbs going without power for days.
"The singular root cause for the very large number and very long duration of outages experienced by ComEd's customers is clear and evident neglect of its distribution facilities over the past 20 years," the AG's office said in its report, according to the Tribune.
The state office examined ComEd's infrastructure over three days in December and determined that dangerous conditions – from overloaded transformers and a lack of tree-trimming – were to blame.
The utility company said in a statement that it understood "the frustration that 2.5 million service interruptions can cause for the customers who experienced them." ComEd defended its restoration record saying it "compares favorable on a national basis," but is aware that its customers want better performance.
"The ComEd electric system functions well, but we worked hard on the Energy Infrastructure and Modernization Act, which will add technology to our system and provide the improved service and stronger response to storms that our customers want and deserve," ComEd said in its statement.
