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BETHLEHEM (Jan 28) –
Senator Lisa Boscola has asked the
state Public Utility Commission to
investigate why residents in Monroe
and Carbon counties were without
power for one week after the severe
ice storms earlier this month.
“My office received
numerous phone calls from residents
during the weeklong power outage
about the lack of heat, about food
spoiling in refrigerators, about
missed work time and other
misfortunes,” Boscola said. “I want
the PUC to take an objective look at
what took so long to reconnect these
customers, come back with some
lessons learned, and make concrete
recommendations to the power
companies involved to make sure this
doesn’t happen again.”
Boscola issued her
request to the PUC today in a letter
to the Commission’s Chairman,
Wendell Holland. Boscola is the
Democrat Chairman of the Senate’s
Consumer Protection Committee.
“I’m not pointing
fingers or trying to find someone to
blame,” she said. “I commend those
power companies that called in
additional personnel to deal with
this emergency. But, I believe that
both the PUC and the local power
companies need to be more proactive
and plan to do better next time.”
Boscola said that local residents
need every assurance that their
power will not be lost for such an
extended period of time when the
next ice storm or emergency disrupts
their electric service.
“All of those involved
in the recent storm clean-up did the
best they could to ensure that the
safety and health needs of local
residents were met,” Boscola said.
“However, despite their best
efforts, thousands of people’s lives
were severely disrupted due to the
lack of power.”
According to Boscola,
Monroe and Carbon counties continue
to grow in population and will
undoubtedly face the same challenges
that were produced by this recent
ice storm at some point in the
future.
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