PITTSBURGH — Power company executives faced questions from state lawmakers about their responses to outages following April’s historic storm.
Hundreds of thousands of people lost power.
The public hearing was hosted by PA State Rep. Mandy Steele.
“I heard so much confusion, anger and sometimes hopelessness about the situation,” Steele said.
On the panel were two representatives from Duquesne Light and one from West Penn Power.
Communication was a major topic. Many criticized the lack of specifics when it came to restoration times.
“We are eager to work with each of you to find what’s meaningful for you to be able to communicate with folks,” Duquesne Light VP and Chief Customer Officer Kristy Jones said.
She also said the company is working to streamline and upgrade the communication process.
Another topic was prioritization when dealing with seniors and others with medical needs.
“I would like to anchor back to preparation. We take it very seriously,” Jones said. “It is critically important to pay attention to communication.”
State Rep. Abigail Salisbury told Channel 11 she was not satisfied with some of tonight’s answers.
“I think Duquesne Light needs to be aware that not everyone has excess income to be able to deal with something like this,” she said. “Unfortunately, we did have fatalities from people who didn’t know and touched a wire.”
Neither was Ben Williams. He lives in Fox Chapel and just got power back last week.
“Some of the questions from the panel members went unanswered, honestly.”
Another Duquesne Light representative said he was “proud” that the company restored “99.9%” of customers within a week.
Still, lawmakers said they expect them to be faster next time.
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