BGE Officials Hear Concerns at Irene Town Hall

Months after churned up the East Coast, Baltimore Gas and Electric officials are still facing many of the same questions about the utility's response to lengthy power outages caused by the storm.

Why did it take so long to restore power? Why weren't real people answering the phones? Why did trucks park in neighborhoods for hours and leave with the power still out?

State Sen. James Brochin moderated a Monday evening town hall with representatives of BGE at , where officials listened to complaints and concerns of more than 30 residents and promised to do better.

"We want to engage the community," said Ervin McDaniel, BGE's liaison and investigations director. "We want to be able to go through and be in closer contact with our customer base and this is one way we can do that."

Before taking questions, McDaniel and Ron Carostens, the utility's director of customer planning, ran through a slide show reviewing the storm aftermath and BGE's preparation and response. The plan included calling for outside help and holding conference calls as early as five days before Irene hit on Aug. 28.

During the storm, line workers completed 17,349 jobs and replaced 729,150 feet of broken wire while tending to more than 750,000 outages system-wide, about one-third of which were in Baltimore County. Two-thirds of Baltimore County's customers lost power at one point or another during the storm, and the county's outages averaged on track with the 37-hour average outages elsewhere in BGE's system.

During and after the storm, BGE's 250 call center workers and an automated system handled 1.5 million calls, "a volume that we had never seen before," said Carostens.

Officials also detailed their communications efforts, which included phone calls, social media, broadcast interviews, news releases and updates to their website which, they admitted, are little use to someone without power.

Brochin's 42nd district felt much of the storm's impact. Parts of his district, including neighborhoods such as Hampton and Wiltondale, were without power for more than a week after the storm passed.

During the question-and-answer session, which lasted for more than an hour, residents grilled Carostens and McDaniel on what happened during the August storm and the lessons learned.

One of the major themes Monday was communication and organization. Customers said they were told on the phone that a crew would be out to restore their power on a certain day, and it didn't happen. Others complained of crews sent to a certain area to wait for BGE's orders or who then turned back because Baltimore County needed to remove a tree.

Several, including Brochin, asked why schools were not a higher priority. Some Baltimore County schools, including Stoneleigh Elementary School and Ridgely Middle School, to power outages.

"It really depends on the school and where it was," McDaniel said, adding that BGE is reevaluating how crews prioritize outages.

Currently, critical facilities such as hospitals are restored first, followed by major lines then smaller clusters of customers.

Other people raised concerns with the utility's messaging, and one customer suggested arming line crews on the ground with information or fliers to pass to residents who might not otherwise be able to stay informed.

The utility is planning numerous capital projects in the area in the next five years, including new substations and circuit reinforcements in the York Road corridor. In some neighborhoods, BGE is looking at putting power lines underground. 

Kelly Garritz, who lives on Seminary Avenue in Hampton, said that a long line of trucks parked on her street for several hours shortly after the storm and then left. Her power was out for a week.

Garritz said she called BGE several times each day for several days after the storm, without a response. Her power often goes out during big storms, she said. After she shared her experience during the meeting, BGE representatives took down her information.

"It sounds like they're aware of the problem, and hopefully I get some feedback and it will be positive, because we lose power when the wind blows," she said. "I'm not convinced because I've heard it before, but it seems like these guys might be a little more on it."