Residents, officials sound off on ComEd in Glenview
BY KAREN BERKOWITZ kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com August 2, 2011 8:20PM
State Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-18th, of Evanston speaks at the town hall meeting Monday on the ComEd outages on the North Shore in Glenview. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: November 2, 2011 6:28PM
North suburban residents and village officials vented frustrations Monday over the succession of storm-related power outages, with many contending that ComEd’s failures to maintain and update the system are as much to blame as the weather.
Officials from the utility heard an earful from consumers and officials during the town meeting convened by freshman State Rep. Daniel Biss, D-17th, in Glenview. Residents and officials sounding off came from the communities of Evanston, Wilmette, Skokie, Morton Grove, Glenview, Northbrook and Highland Park.
Four storms with fierce winds ripped through the region on June 21, June 30, July 11 and July 21, causing a total of two million customer outages.
“This is the worst series of storms we have ever experienced,” said Michael Guerra, ComEd’s vice president of external affairs, invoking the photographic images seen on the news. “Trees that have survived 100 years are uprooted.”
Guerra said the July 11 storm proved the most damaging in the utility’s history, causing outages for 850,000 customers. More than half of those who lost power, about 440,000, were in the northern region.
The storm knocked out power at 1,400 locations designed as high-priority for restoration, such as hospitals, police and fire stations, high-rise buildings and senior centers.
But Biss at one point suggested that ComEd shouldn’t just chalk up the outages to bad weather, noting the utility’s own presentation mentioned other bad years in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
‘The new normal’
“This is the new normal,” said Biss, suggesting that in light of changing weather patterns, the utility should adjust baseline expectations and prepare accordingly.
Some residents expressed anger over the lack of information, or misinformation, they received during protracted outages.
“I realize you are not responsible for the storms or the weather, or the hundreds of dollars of lost food,” said Kevin Kile of Northbrook, rankled by the misinformation he received during a 70-hour outage. “Each time I called, the time I was given was exactly four hours after the time I called. For 70 hours!” he exclaimed, turning up the volume.
When his utility bill arrived, he was charged for a normal month’s usage.
Responding to the billing issue, utility officials said customers are only charged for the power they use, but the bills are estimated until the customer’s meter is read. Then the bill is adjusted to reflect actual usage.
Northwest Evanston resident Walker Lawrence, like many neighbors in the area of Crawford Avenue and Hillside Road, endured three separate outages totaling about 224 hours over a three-week period.
Joan Frazier, a Northfield resident and village trustee, cited a report in the Chicago Sun-Times that said Northfield had the second worst record for electrical reliability on a per-resident basis, based on Illinois Commerce Commission data. The north suburban village was trumped only by the tiny village of McCullom Lake.
“I can attest our service is terrible,” said Frazier, who wanted to know what the utility plans to do over the next year to address the issue. “We pay the same rates that everybody else does and we demand reliable service.”
Advice on setting priorities
Glenview Village President Kerry Cummings urged ComEd representatives to keep municipal officials posted on where crews are working and what circuits are being repaired, “not just generally, We have three crews in Glenview.”
She also urged ComEd to put traffic signals high on the priority list. “Willow Road and I-294 were a nightmare,” she said. “We supply the manpower to make sure (motorists) are safe.”
Guerra put in a plug for the Smart Grid technology, which will require an investment of $1.5 billion over the next 10 years in addition to the $900 million a year the utility spends on the system. Guerra said the Smart Grid will provide instant and precise information about which customers are without power and automatically transfer customers to alternate transformers.
Biss said he voted against the Smart Grid legislation in its current form because it increased consumers’ rates substantially and provided inadequate assurances that consumers would ultimately benefit.
The lawmaker advised ComEd officials to “dial down” the profit allowances built into the proposal and “rachet up the performance measures.”
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