LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Monday night, Lakewood City Council will discuss possible litigation against FirstEnergy following ongoing power outages. The discussion comes after more than two years of repeated outages across the city, including several outages reported multiple times in July.
“It is long overdue, and the residents bringing this up and keeping this ball rolling is an essential part of this process because we don't deserve to be blindsided again by this issue,” said Donn Nottage, a Lakewood resident.
For Nottage, the outages have become a major frustration, which is why he plans to attend tonight’s City Council meeting.
"I want to see some concrete action being taken by FirstEnergy and PUCO,” said Nottage.
During the meeting, Council is expected to discuss possible legal action against FirstEnergy, along with the steps the city has already taken and the timeline of those efforts.
For Mayor Meghan George, securing reliable power has been an ongoing battle. Her first complaint led to a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio investigation into FirstEnergy, which resulted in required improvements. Now, after additional outages, she is asking for another investigation and reimbursement for residents.
RELATED: Left in the dark. Lakewood residents, leaders call out FirstEnergy amid potential legal battle
"So I did hear back from chair of the Public Utilities Commission. They said they received the complaint and they are beginning their investigation work,” said George.
The city is also asking residents to report outage complaints directly to PUCO. Councilman Tom Bullock created a survey to track the impact of the outages, which has already received 297 responses.
"They're going through everything from food loss to buying hotels that are not in their family budget to dealing with sick family members whose electric beds can't operate, and so they're stuck in an unhealthy and dangerous situation,” said Bullock.
Like many residents, Bullock said he wants to know what more can be done.
“The questions come: what are the legal options? Now, I think the truth is the legal options are difficult. For the most part, the Public Utilities Commission is in charge, and nobody else when it comes to power outages,” said Bullock.
Still, the goal remains the same: reliable power that stays on.
"The bottom line is to have reliable electric power on a daily basis because that's what we are paying for,” said Nottage.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m.
Nadeen Abusada is a Cuyahoga County and immigration reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Instagram NadeenAbusada or email her at Nadeen.Abusada@wews.com.
