Attorney General: Investigation Into Last Summer's Prolonged Power Outages Puts Blame Squarely on ComEd

UPDATE Saturday, 3:30 p.m: ComEd issued a statement regarding the 2011 storms:

"Last summer’s wave of storms were among the worst in decades and we understand the frustration that 2.5 million service interruptions can cause for the customers who experienced them. We also understand that even though ComEd’s system reliability and outage restoration performance compares favorably on a national basis, our customers are seeking a stronger response.
 
"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."

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While ComEd says that last summer's and other towns were caused by an act of nature—namely trees and tree branches falling on power lines and utility poles—Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says otherwise.

In a report issued by the Attorney General's Office last week, the outages were the result of neglect by the utility, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.

Madigan's office commissioned a three-day investigation in the hardest-hit towns, including Elmhurst, and discovered "years of vegetation management neglect" and 60-year-old utility poles and other equipment, according to the article.

The Tribune article included this excerpt from the report: "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."

It and also affected Evanston, Arlington Heights and a number of other northwest suburbs. But some Elmhurst residents were , costing them hundreds of dollars in spoiled food. The two storms effected a total of 1.3 million customers, according to ComEd.

In a press release emailed to Elmhurst Patch, ComEd describes what it calls a "summer like no other." A record 2.4 million customers experienced service interruptions during summer 2011. The press release also points to the utility's restoration performance after the July 11 storm: Approximately 75 percent were restored by Day 2 and 95 percent by Day 4, the release says. 

But according to the attorney general, ComEd should pay residents for losses of spoiled food and other damages, and they should pay municipalities for overtime pay for police and loss of productivity during outages to public buildings.

ComEd is asking the Illinois Commerce Commission to waive liability, insisting the outages were an act of God.

The utility successfully lobbied its technology proposal through the General Assembly last year. Smart Grid, they say, will improve reliability because the outages will be identified immediately, causing a faster response time. Also, customers would not need to phone in outages before crews are dispatched. ComEd, in the press release, says the new technology will create a "self-healing" grid, which re-routes power around trouble spots or corrects a problem before an outage occurs.

In the Tribune report, Madigan's office said the absence of Smart technology had nothing to do with the duration of the outages.