Lakewood, Ohio FirstEnergy received the first formal setback in what may be a long-overdue reckoning on Friday after a summer of blackouts and growing resentment in Northeast Ohio communities.
In a six-page letter, the Public Utilities Commission informed Terry Hinton, president of FirstEnergy Ohio, that the company’s Cleveland Electric Illuminating subsidiary probably violated regulations regarding equipment maintenance and communication with customers and local authorities following a series of blackouts linked to a Lakewood substation.
The letter is the beginning of a process that might lead to regulatory action, including a punishment, against the massive energy company located in Akron.
The letter outlines FirstEnergy’s options for resolving the problem, including offering thorough plans to fix the substation’s malfunctions and enhance communications.
FirstEnergy must reply to the letter by August 8. According to the letter, the PUCO might fine the corporation up to $10,000 per day if it doesn’t reply or demonstrate that it is making efforts to comply.
Hannah Catlett, a FirstEnergy spokesperson, said in a statement that the firm is looking at the letter and the issues that PUCO brought up. She added that FirstEnergy workers are examining and improving its systems and would update PUCO and its clients on their progress.
We regret any difficulty our customers may have faced and acknowledge how disruptive disruptions can be, Catlett said. We are working to improve Lakewood’s infrastructure and are still dedicated to providing dependable service.
Additionally, on Friday, the Office of the Ohio Consumers Counsel filed a motion requesting that PUCO launch a formal investigation into the blackouts in Lakewood and other areas. The office claims that this action would enable open investigatory hearings and public participation in the investigation.
Based on letters from Cleveland City Council members Brian Kazy and Charles Slife, whose districts are both on the city’s West Side close to the Lakewood boundary, and Lakewood Mayor Meghan George, PUCO started questioning the energy behemoth last month. The three pointed to multiple power outages that occurred during the summer and were obviously caused by FirstEnergy’s corporate incompetence and indifference rather than weather-related factors.
Because of the increasing frequency of the blackouts, Lakewood officials started providing financial assistance to households whose food went bad as a result of prolonged power outages.
Many of the circuits in the Lakewood substation are consistently among the worst-performing circuits in CEI’s yearly reports, according to PUCO’s letter, which also stated that its personnel verified that the blackouts were not caused by the weather.
PUCO reported that between 35 and over 9,000 consumers were impacted by power outages that happened on June 22, 23, 24, and 27 as well as July 5, 6, and 7.
According to the letter, PUCO staff visited the substation as part of their investigation and discovered that the infrastructure was significantly older than that of other CEI substations. They also came to the conclusion that, given the current age and configuration of the infrastructure, there would be a significant risk of prolonged outages in the event of a serious weather incident because of the difficulty and complexity of replacing and repairing it.
Additionally, CEI failed to keep a thorough plan in place to notify customers and local authorities during planned and unplanned outages, according to PUCO investigators.
According to the letter, CEI staff informed Lakewood officials, for instance, that the business did not notify anyone after an 11-hour outage because it deemed it to be brief.
In order to increase service reliability to Lakewood and the surrounding areas, PUCO suggested that FirstEnergy submit to the regulator a comprehensive plan that outlines precise phases, deadlines, expenses, and how the business will manage changes in funding to prioritize the staff and equipment required to meet the plan.
Additionally, it stated that the business must inform PUCO of any upcoming municipal outages, whether they occurred on any of the circuits under investigation, and if yes, the reason for the outage.
Additionally, it suggested that CEI create a thorough communications strategy for its clients, local government representatives, and communities and share the strategy with PUCO employees.
After admitting in a July 3 meeting with George, Kazy, Lakewood City Council President Sarah Kepple, and Ohio Representative Tristan Rader that the power outages were caused by outdated equipment rather than bad weather, FirstEnergy promised to invest $3 million to repair two substations: one in Lakewood and one on the West Side of Cleveland.
Catlett previously stated to Cleveland.com that although the Lakewood substation was still well within its normal lifespan, the business still consented to major improvements.
“We’re moving forward to improve system reliability, even though this kind of early replacement is not typical,” Catlett stated. We will keep the community updated as this work develops, and we valued the chance to discuss our intentions with the mayor of Lakewood and other local officials.
After the discussion, George was equally critical, particularly in light of the severe power disruptions that occurred on July 5 and 6.
It’s difficult because, as George previously stated, they have no track record of successfully resolving issues.
After Barberton officials told the regulator that customers had encountered over a dozen blackouts in two months, the regulator launched a separate investigation into outages in Barberton. According to a spokesperson, the investigation is still ongoing.
For the struggling energy company at the center of the biggest political corruption scandal in the state’s history, the letter represents the most recent, but by no means the biggest, issue.
In addition to former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder being found guilty and given a 20-year prison sentence for his involvement in the HB6 scandal, several former executives have been charged in the $60 million bribery conspiracy.
Additionally, just this week, PUCO concluded weeks of hearings in three different cases where the business acknowledged wrongdoing, including failing to keep track of the more than $450 million it charged customers for the modernization of its electric system.
During the hearings, the consumer watchdog group asked for a $390 million fine, while the firm proposed paying a $6.6 million fine.
