READING, Nov. 23, 2011 — After receiving public input on the recent storm-related power outages that occurred in Berks County, State Sen. Judy Schwank provided the results of a storm-related power outage survey, she recently conducted, to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and asked the Commission to come up with a specific plan of action plan to improve the performance of utilities in future weather emergencies.
“More than 250 residents responded to my request for information with detailed accounts of their storm and power-outage experiences,” Schwank said. “I am grateful for their input and believe the responses will help improve how our utilities and the PUC respond during emergencies such as this.”
Earlier this month, Schwank asked the tens of thousands of Berks County residents who were left without power to provide her with specific information about their utility’s response to any problems they experienced with their service during and after the storm in an effort to gain an understanding of the storm’s impact on consumers.
Schwank said the results of the survey provided an eye-opening perspective of the storm’s impact and the response of the utility companies. The survey found that:
- Nearly 80 percent of respondents experienced power outages of more than 3 days;
- Sixty-five percent endured more than five days without power;
- More than 40 percent of the respondents cited poor communication and financial loss as their chief concerns;
- A third of respondents cited inadequate line maintenance as an important concern; and
- Eighteen percent mentioned frequent outages and service reliability and medical concerns as major issues.
Today, Schwank sent a letter to the PUC detailing the results of the public survey and requesting a specific action plan from the commission.
“The purpose of this effort is not to castigate or vilify utility employees; indeed, the linemen and women and other workers worked very hard under extraordinary conditions to restore power,” said Senator Schwank. “The goal here is to get the Commission to consider the real faces and real life impacts of the storm and the response of utilities to it and take substantive action to ensure that they do better in the future. In particular, two glaring areas that need improvement are the method and manner utilities employ to communicate with customers during outages and the extent and quality of their preemptive maintenance and equipment repair and replacement programs. “
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