A comprehensive report issued this week by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on the deadly April 29 storm in Southwestern Pennsylvania found utility companies’ preparations were “generally appropriate” but said there was room for improvement.
The commission analyzed how electric companies responded to the massive storm whose 70-80 mph winds left two people dead and hundreds of thousands without power.
The storm caused widespread damage, blowing roofs off of buildings, toppling massive trees and scattering debris in roadways.
Duquesne Light, which told the commission the storm was “the most impactful outage event” in its history, faced criticism after some customers were without power for 10 days.
According to the commission, which regulates utilities, the storm cut power for more than 679,000 customers.
The 177-page report found the preparations by utility companies — including Duquesne Light and First Energy — were “adequate” given the forecasts.
It acknowledged the utilities were able to rush a massive influx of additional workers to assist.
But the report also pointed out that Duquesne Light struggled to manage and prioritize road closures and did not meet its goal of restoring power within five to seven days.
It also highlighted that the company saw nearly 10% of customer calls left unanswered.
The outages, the PUC said, were particularly challenging for people with medical needs who rely on electricity to power medical devices. It noted the potential hardships faced by low-income customers forced to replace spoiled food.
The commission recommended Duquesne Light study its ability to scale up resources, hire a third-party entity to review its storm response and review its customer call center performance so fewer customer calls go unanswered during future events.
Other recommendations including:
- Urging electric companies to meet with county emergency management teams at least once a year to review procedures for storm responses and road closures
- Consulting with utilities in storm-prone states like Florida to learn how they restore power after major storms
- Contacting climate and weather experts to improve storm outage prediction models.
Another suggestion raised by the commission was to reestablish a dormant storm response best practices group that would outline recommendations for road closures, weather and outage prediction modelling and mutual aid crew management.
Lauren Siburkis, a spokeswoman for FirstEnergy, in a statement said officials are reviewing the report.
“We remain committed to continually assessing and enhancing our storm preparedness and response efforts,” she said.
Duquesne Light in a statement said the regulators’ report matched many of the findings and recommendations the utility had already identified — “challenges that we began addressing immediately following the April storm.”
“These improvements will directly enhance reliability and customer experience during major storms, and include upgrading technology and grid infrastructure, forecasting tools and customer communications; and investing in workforce training and readiness,” Alyssa Battaglia, a Duquesne Light spokeswoman, said in a statement.
During a meeting with Allegheny County Council members and other officials in September, representatives from Duquesne Light admitted there were issues and vowed to make improvements.
“We do acknowledge that things did not go well,” Jennifer Neiswonger, the utility company’s director of company experience, said during the meeting.
Duquesne Light officials at the time said the company had been working to improve emergency response and customer service.
Their efforts included 40 after-storm sessions with 1,000 employees and a series of focus groups with impacted customers to gather feedback.
