CLEVELAND — With the growing number of power outages Cleveland Public Power customers have been facing the last few weeks, city officials decided to host a town hall to let everyone know why and what's being done to mitigate them.
Last week, we sat down with multiple Lorain Avenue businesses that were without power over the Fourth of July weekend for 52 hours. At least 19 businesses were impacted, according to Ohio City Inc.
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CPP previously told me the prolonged outage was weather-related, which strained the power grid.
CPP Commissioner Ammon Danielson confirmed the underground cables that were strained during the holiday weekend have been repaired, which will hopefully prevent such an outage from happening again in the Lorain Avenue area.
In an effort to move forward as well as keep the public in the know, a Tuesday night town hall was held at the Urban Community School.
Danielson blamed the city's electrical infrastructure, calling it incredibly old. He blamed deferred maintenance for today's faults.
"We have issues going back to the early 1900s," he said. "Some of our equipment dates almost back that far."
Danielson told a room full of CPP customers that City Hall is working on a strategic master plan to help rebuild reliability and the company's reputation.
When I asked Cleveland Public Utilities Department director Martin Keane for the finer details of the plan, he told me, "It's a comprehensive document. Detail wise, it's putting a map together for the future of Cleveland Public Power."
"You're never going to stop an outage, unfortunately, but we're going to recover from the storm and from the inclement weather. We work really hard to make sure that they're minimized and for a smaller duration," Keane said. "Our customers mean everything to us, so they deserve to understand where we as the leaders of the utility think we are right now, but more importantly is where we know we need to go, which is high level of service, at a reliable service, at a reasonable price. That's why we exist."
The hope is to roll out the plan in the coming months. Danielson reassured the room that it would not be years.
Danielson said his team as well as council will need to review the plan before anything can go into effect. No concrete timeline yet, though, according to Danielson.
I asked Keane what makes this plan different than what the department has done in the past.
"There's not been quite a few plans previously. This is an all-encompassing look at where we are as a utility. That's what's unique about this strategic plan. Everybody's bought into it and I think everybody is committed to its implementation and to its success," Keane told me.
While we don't know what the plan entails, Keane said rate increases are not being ruled out. Trimming more trees and adding more underground cables are also being considered.
"We know the level of investment increases every day in everything. I mean, not only in the delivery of power, in the delivery of any utility or in any service that we do as a city so we're always looking at it," Keane said.
According to city officials, CPP customers saw a rate increase in 2025. Before that, there hadn't been one since 1983.
Keane said the most recent increase has proven to be successful in helping play catch-up with funding.
Danielson said grants are being looked at, too, saying, "We are pursuing them, just not as much as I would like."
To repair the infrastructure, Danielson said it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
"As far as seeing change ... we're working on it," Danielson said during Tuesday's town hall.
I asked why the change in the city's infrastructure seems to be a hot topic now rather than in previous years.
"We have a capital improvement plan. We've been upgrading it as we go for years and years and years. Council support passes our budget. We put a budget together with capital every year. We just need to do better and that's what we're planning on doing. That's what these meetings result in and the support of council, and we'll continue to try to do better," Keane said.
Ohio City Inc. is planning to host city officials at its headquarters on Lorain Avenue this Wednesday.
RELATED: Ohio City Inc. seeks relief fund for businesses hit by 50-hour power outage
A group of residents advocating for a transformed Cleveland Public Power, OurCPP, also plans to meet on Tuesday, July 28, at the Cleveland Public Library.
