In the News

Chicago Tribune, Voice of the People, June 27, 2011

Last month my daughter gave me an antique sign that reads, "Keep calm and carry on." This advice from the British government at the start of World War II  also holds relevance for the thousands of ComEd customers who were without power for days due to storms that impacted the Chicagoland area Tuesday evening. Customers from many suburbs were without power — and without any reliable or consistent explanation of why and when the power would be restored. Crews were nowhere to be seen. People were forced to throw out hundreds of dollars worth of food. Traffic lights all along main thoroughfares were not working, and commuters were delayed and frustrated. Suburban downtown areas resembled ghost towns with stores and restaurants losing hundreds of thousands of dollars because of closings.

Residents were justifiably angry and business owners were frustrated. Many elderly were frightened, and parents with small children were concerned and alarmed.

ComEd representatives have reached out to try to rectify the issue by holding meetings with municipalities. They visited my office and made the case that the outages were largely caused by unprecedented 80-mph winds causing power lines and poles to go down.

Unfortunately, however, ComEd's response to the emergency lacked a strong communication program. Reliable information regarding repairs was not available. For those left with empty refrigerators, lost business, long traffic delays, worry and concern, it has been a great challenge to "keep calm and carry on."

It seems that every summer we are confronted by an issue that exceeds ComEd's capacity to respond. ComEd should quickly make the necessary investments to ensure that this never happens again.

— State Sen. Susan Garrett, D-Lake Forest, chairman of the Illinois Senate Commerce Committee