BARBERTON, Ohio (WOIO) -A Barberton councilman wants First Energy to see the light and pay up for ratepayers.
“Nobody has been spared in this. This has gotten to the point of absurdity, to the reliability, the distribution, everything,” says Thomas “Bebe” Heitic who is a Barberton Councilman At-Large.
Heitic is frustrated at the dozen plus outages homes and businesses have experienced, some lasting more than a day.
He says some ratepayers have experienced more outages combined in the past few months than they have in the past 15 years combined.
19 News has shown you the melted ice cream cakes and frustrated business owners over the lack of power reliability.
“I would like to believe that we got this under control. Realistically, I’m not so sure,“ said Dan Durbin of Durbin Magic Freeze in early July.
Some businesses are out thousands of dollars in spoiled food and the ability to be open.
“We all take it for granted that you’re gonna flip that switch on, and you’re going to have light, and sometimes it just doesn’t work,” said Ray Leach of Leach’s Meats and Sweets also back in early July.
Heitic says it’s not just businesses, but residents who are also at risk.
“We have a substantial senior population here and a lot of them rely on medical device. Uses. These devices rely on electricity, they have battery backups, but for how long?” says Heitic.
Now Heitic has introduced a council resolution to demand First Energy pay money and give every ratepayer in the city a $100 credit.
He says there are about 10,000 ratepayers in the city.
“I hope to see them do what they’re supposed to do, and I hope to see them agree to giving a credit to the city of Barberton. These residents deserve it. They put up with enough,” says Heitic.
First Energy has said in the past they are working to enhance tree-trimming, more frequent inspections, and finding ways to enhance the grid.
They also say some of the outages are out of their control when it comes to osprey nests and severe storms.
We reached out to First Energy to see if they are looking into giving ratepayers the $100 credits. They answered in response:
We remain dedicated to providing a positive customer experience and reliable service. While not every outage can be prevented, we continue to pursue investment opportunities to limit their duration and impact, and we have presented our plans to city council.
The Ohio Public Utilities Commission has recently opened an investigation into Barberton’s frequent power outages.
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