DeWine seeks answers on AEP outages

Gov. COLUMBUS —Mike DeWine this week added to the chorus of those seeking answers from AEP on last week’s widespread power outages.

DeWine issued a statement supporting a review of the outages by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

The outages left more than 230,000 Ohioans without electricity on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, while temperatures climbed into the 90s. Among those without power were about 170,000 Columbus-area customers who were cut off of power by AEP because of fears that power lines were becoming overheated.

DeWine said PUCO should examine several aspects of the outages including:

■ “What steps are Ohio’s utilities taking to ensure that the significant disruption Ohioans experienced last week does not occur again?”

■ “Why certain central Ohio neighborhoods lost power and others did not?”

■ “Did utilities do enough to communicate to their customers ahead of planned power shut offs to protect the grid?”

Utility officials said last week they cut off power as a last-choice necessity after signs that power lines were becoming overloaded and in danger of failing, following storm damage to transmission lines on the north and southwest parts of the Columbus area.

AEP reiterated the point in a Tuesday statement.

“We understand the hardship extended outages can create, and the frustration of our customers,” the statement read.

“These outages were caused by the storm and high winds that hit our service territory, combined with the high temperatures and resulting demand for power. We will fully cooperate with the PUCO to discuss these and any other questions the might arise. Also, as we do after every major storm, we will conduct our own internal review and evaluation.”

DeWine’s comments echo widespread questions last week about the outages, many from those wondering why certain neighborhoods were impacted and why AEP did not give any heads up.