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Steele on PUC’s Review and Investigation of their Response to Storms

HARRISBURG, May 10 – On Friday, state Rep. Mandy Steele issued the following statement on the announcement from Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission that it will be launching a review after last week’s storm that left over half of a million customers without power for days, caused widespread property damage, and had many unable to store or cook food, use critical life-sustaining medical devices, have access to drinking water, or to attend work or school:

“I have hundreds of constituents who were without power for 10 days. Some of those people are seniors, sick and dependent on electricity to power medical devices. The people I represent truly suffered,” Steele said.

“They want answers, and so do I. I commend the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission for doing this important work, but we need to hold electricity providers responsible for what went wrong. We need to look for changes that can be implemented so that next time the electricity restoration is quicker. I am committed to finding answers for my constituents. I take the complaints of my constituents very seriously as people’s lives are at hand. I will continue to work with Duquesne Light Company, First Energy, and the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission to find answers for our community and to prevent these kinds of disasters from occurring again.”

A formal review will be performed by the PUC. This review and investigation will give recommendations for steps that will be taken to better prepare for future cases of extreme weather. Steele said she is following the investigation and plans to work with PUC in finding solutions for the community.