Officials: ComEd's response 'not acceptable'

PLAINFIELD -- Village officials ripped ComEd on Monday night for what they felt was a poor response to a massive power outage that affected more than 12,000 customers.

"I'm not happy that this is the best ComEd's put forth," said Trustee Larry Vaupel, whose subdivision had been without power much of the day Monday. "To me, today's events and your response were certainly not acceptable."

A fire in a ComEd substation on 143rd Street cut power about 10 a.m. Monday, affecting customers in the village of Plainfield as well as Plainfield, Wheatland and Oswego townships.

Power had been restored to all of the customers by 8 a.m. Tuesday, said ComEd spokeswoman Judy Rader.

Many were receiving power from nine generators placed throughout the community, she said.

Tuesday afternoon 700 customers who were on generator power went dark again when a generator caught fire and failed. By 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, 400 customers still did not have power.

A team of ComEd officials attended the village's board meeting Monday to answer questions about the outage. At 7 p.m. Monday, 4,700 customers were still dark.

"The number of circuits that were out is not something we normally experience," said Fidel Marquez, ComEd's vice president of external affairs. He added that the company planned a thorough assessment of the incident to determine what could be done differently in the future.

Village officials urged customers who had issues such as spoiled food during the outage to request reimbursement from ComEd. Call (800) EDISON1 for a claim form.

The company will determine the cause of the blackout, and whether it was ComEd's fault, before credits would be issued, Marquez said.

Firefighters worked on the substation until about 4 p.m. Monday when it was turned over to ComEd staff, Deputy Fire Chief Jon Stratton said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Rader said.

Power was out until 3 p.m. Monday in the downtown area, where businesses are already stressed by major construction on Lockport Street.

"Adding any fuel to the fire is really taxing these businesses. They're doing everything they can to keep their heads above water now," said Liz Collins, president and CEO of the Plainfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

Plainfield fire personnel responded to calls related to the outage Tuesday, Stratton said.

"We've got power surges in houses. We're trying to figure out what's going on with that," Stratton said Tuesday, adding that ComEd didn't know the cause at that time, either.

"We had people stuck in elevators in schools," Stratton said. "It was a nightmare for a while. It still is."

Sun-Times News Group