City Seeks Answers from ComEd at Upcoming Hearing

Dolores Keef hopes to never have a summer like 2011 again.

The Darien resident lost her power for three days following the that barraged area residents with rain, hail and heavy wind, knocking out power to more than 900,000 ComEd customers.

“I don’t remember it being this bad,” said Keef, whose car was stuck in her garage, forcing her to walk to replace the food that spoiled in her refrigerator. “I hope I don’t have to go through this again.”

While Keef and other Darien residents dealt with power outages, ComEd endured what a spokesman called “the worst summer for storms and outages we’ve ever had," costing $80 million to repair.

On Sept. 19, city leaders will hear from the power company about why areas of Darien were so badly hit with outages, and residents like Keef hope to get some answers and reassurance it won’t happen again. The hearing will take place at the meeting at 7 p.m. in .

Assistant city administrator Scott Coren said the city has identified five areas that experienced particularly bad outages, and hopes to work with ComEd to identify solutions to the persistent outages.

“Our focus is really on improving reliability and making sure Darien gets as much attention as possible under ComEd’s current regulations,” he said. “Especially after a summer like this where people have been without power for days at a time.”

The city identified the following areas as especially prone to outages: Peony/Holly/Brookbank, Pine Parkway, Creekside Lane, Aislworth Court/Stewart, and Hawthorne/Stevens.

The reliability of ComEd’s grid in Darien was a subject of much concern in 2005 when the city filed a lawsuit against the power company. It eventually settled after ComEd agreed to make upgrades to the grid, and hire a third-party consultant to review the situation in Darien. The result, Coren said, was a swift improvement in services, which greatly improved the reliability of Darien’s power.

Still, Coren said there is room for improvement.

“In terms of making Darien a more reliable place in terms of electricity, they’ve definitely done that, but it takes a lot of effort on our part to make sure they do that,” he said.

Second Ward Alderman Tina Beilke said the City Council wants to put more pressure on ComEd.

“They don’t feel like they’re getting specific enough answers, specifically in some areas that go out more than others,” she said.

Beilke said residents in her ward – including herself – experienced “frustration like crazy” this summer.

“No matter what happens it’s my side of the street or the other that goes out,” she said.

ComEd spokesmen Bennie Currie said Darien is one of a number of Chicagoland municipalities to request hearings with the company.

“We’re more than happy to do that. We meet with municipal officials routinely to discuss our service,” he said.

But recent meetings have been contentious, with frustrated residents heckling and booing officials who appeared in front of the State House Public Utilities Commissionin in Highland Park last month.

Currie said ComEd expects to hear from residents at this month’s meeting in Darien.

“There have been concerns raised and rightly so,” he said. “Customers expect a high level of quality of service, and they should. And some have had some concerns about the outages that linger…and that’s understandable.”