When a storm ravaged a 10-county area in southwestern Pennsylvania late last month, hundreds of thousands of customers lost power. On Wednesday night, several Allegheny County state House members questioned two major utility companies on why it took so long to have their service restored.
In a public hearing convened by Fox Chapel Democrat Mandy Steele, Duquesne Light and First Energy-West Penn Power laid out their response to the April 29 storm, which left some 800,000 customers without power, some for nearly two weeks.
"We must pivot and learn from this," Steele told the executives. She warned that a changing climate will increase the number of strong storms in the region, and that companies need to improve their response in the future.
"I've come away from this experience being concerned that when we get hit again, if it's even just slightly larger, we're gonna lose people," Steele said. "People will lose their lives the next time."
People did in fact die as a result of the storm in Allegheny County — one from a fallen tree and another exposed to a live wire, according to the medical examiner.
John Hildebrand II, vice president of operations at Duquesne Light, said the company prioritized securing downed wires and returning power to public health facilities before restoring residential power.
Hildebrand told the panel that in his 40-year career at the utility, April 29 brought "a top-three storm."
Wind-gust estimates ranged from 80 to upwards of 120 miles per hour, said Abe Amawi, manager of Pennsylvania operations at First Energy.
Steele was joined by Republican Jeremy Shaffer of Allison Park and Democrats Joe McAndrew of Penn Hills, Abigail Salisbury of Swissvale and Erie's Ryan Bizzarro, who chairs the state House Majority Policy Committee.
When utilities told lawmakers it's important for residents to be prepared for emergencies with extra charging devices, food and supplies, Salisbury said many of her constituents would find it hard to do so. Her district includes Braddock, where she said many people rely on food banks.
"Not everyone is from a situation where they can afford extra medicine or a $700 generator," Salisbury said.
Salisbury added that she witnessed downed wires about a week after her own home's power was restored, and questioned Duquesne's restoration priorities.
"Why was I standing in Churchill Borough on day nine or 10 of a power outage, that Churchill residents did not have power, but I had power at my home in Swissvale [and] at my district office in Braddock?" she said.
Hildebrand said some downed wires belonged to telecom companies. "We need to collaborate better to figure out how we, as a community, provide as best information as possible as to whether the wire is live or not, so that we can better prioritize the resources that we have," he said.
Most Duquesne Light service — 95%, according to executive Kristy Stone — was restored within the first five days. For First Energy, it was 98% within four days after the storm passed through, Amawi said.
Republican House member Jeremy Shaffer, whose background is in engineering, asked the companies to give themselves a letter grade for their responses to the storm and ensuing power restoration. None of the executives seemed ready to do so, but they agreed there's room for improvement.
Both companies also said they'll agree to collaborating with PennDOT and municipalities on reopening closed roads, as McAndrew asked. And both Duquesne Light and First Energy said they will make public their updated power-restoration plans after reviewing missed opportunities in April.
Stone said Duquesne Light would do better on notifying customers of service restoration, after hearing "so much confusion and anger and sometimes hopelessness about the situation" from customers.
"My own family was right there with you," she added, "without power, for seven days."
Steele noted that she had heard a related question from constituents: What would state lawmakers do to improve outcomes when the next strong storm comes?
She said all Democrats in the Allegheny County House delegation have co-sponsored a bill to prevent price gouging during local disaster emergencies. The measure, introduced by delegation chair Rep. Aerion Abney, would bar the practice when local officials declare a state of emergency: The state's current law only bans price-gouging when the governor makes an emergency declaration.
Steele said that as residents were scrambling for portable power generators, "We saw people putting the cost of generators through the roof. That is not okay. … [W]e will make sure that that does not happen the next time."
In the meantime, Steele urged municipal leaders to ensure all firefighter and police stations have generators of their own.
"That's part of the reason why 911 failed," Steele added, referring to the difficulty some residents had making emergency calls after the storm. "Some police stations didn't have generators, and they went dark."
Steele said she's also seeking a resolution to form a joint commission that would perform a cost-benefit analysis on whether aging overhead power lines should be buried underground — a move that would protect lines from high winds and limit future outages.
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