Questions Linger About Last Summer’s Power Outages

Last June, after a quarter of a million Ohioans suffered storm-related power outages, public officials and key organizations — including the OMA — called for a review of AEP Ohio’s systems management and reliability procedures.

Half a year later, AEP says it will improve its vegetation management following the company’s internal review. But it appears the utility overlooked other potential causes, such as broken relays. Moreover, there has been no thorough independent investigation of the outages, nor is there a transparent forum for customers to ask questions.

Meanwhile, regional grid operator PJM admits its personnel were not trained to prevent intentional power outages. (You may recall that AEP Ohio shed load in the Columbus area for what it called defensive reasons.) 12/21/2022