Lakewood loses power again. What is being done about FirstEnergy’s ‘utter failure’?
LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Lakewood has experienced two power outages this week alone — one on Tuesday and another on Friday — leaving residents and even Mayor Meghan George increasingly frustrated.
George wrote a letter this week to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio calling on state regulators to investigate what she described as persistent and disruptive power outages affecting residents and businesses across Lakewood.
Cleveland City Council members Brian Kazy and Charles Slife, who represent West Side neighborhoods that border Lakewood, also joined in the letter.
As of 12:05 a.m. Saturday, FirstEnergy Corp. reported 4,133 Lakewood residents among the 6,143 Cuyahoga County residents affected by a power outage.
George said the city has received hundreds of emails, calls and messages regarding the frequent outages.
“The chaos and damage caused by FirstEnergy’s failures are real. They involve matters of life and death and affect the economic viability of those we represent,” George wrote.
Repeated electrical failures have disrupted daily life, despite assurances from utility providers that the issues were under control, the letter said.
A spokesperson for FirstEnergy said in a statement that the company plans to work with city officials to “strengthen reliability.”
“We understand the recent power outages experienced by our Lakewood customers have caused frustration in the community,” the statement said. “Local infrastructure improvements in Lakewood are planned as part of our multi-year, multi-billion-dollar Energize365 investment initiative to provide long-term solutions that support a more resilient, modern electric system.”
Officials said the outages have forced first responders to scramble to handle preventable crises caused by blackouts, on top of genuine emergencies unrelated to power outages.
George urged PUCO to open a formal docket to examine the causes of the outages and evaluate the response plans from FirstEnergy and other providers.
“The frequency and severity of these outages over the past year demands your urgent attention and swift action,” the letter continued.
The letter noted that city leaders have repeatedly contacted FirstEnergy over the past year but said their concerns were met with “platitudes, excuses, dodging, empty promises and general corporate apathy.”
Officials said a previous letter sent to the commission in January went unanswered.
Officials also raised concerns about insufficient advance notice when outages occur and limited transparency about maintenance records and contingency plans.
Lakewood is encouraging residents to file individual complaints with PUCO to help document the scope of the problem.
“We are all aware that local government has zero public power to force action by FirstEnergy, so we are demanding that PUCO use its authority and address FirstEnergy’s utter failure to serve our community,” the letter said.
Residents can report outages and service problems through PUCO’s online complaint system or by contacting City Hall.