LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Lakewood residents and business owners frustrated by repeat power outages continue to demand answers from FirstEnergy.
Now, one city councilman is taking nearly 300 resident responses directly to state regulators as Lakewood officials continue pushing for accountability.
Lakewood City Councilman Tom Bullock says the complaints show the impact the outages have had on people across the city.
This includes repeat lost wages, food and medication concerns, hotel expenses and health emergencies.
“Extreme exasperation, extreme frustration—and a determination to get this fixed,” Bullock said.
The push comes after a series of outages that affected neighborhoods and businesses across Lakewood during a stretch of summer weather.
RELATED: 'Life-or-Death Heat': Lakewood Mayor demands answers over power outages
The City of Lakewood says FirstEnergy’s infrastructure and equipment failures have contributed to the repeated outages.
Bullock recently asked residents to share their experiences with the outages in a survey he posted on his Facebook page.
Nearly 300 people responded to his survey.
He says residents reported losing wages, struggling to access food and medication, paying for hotel rooms and dealing with medical emergencies and other health concerns during the outages.
Bullock says he plans to take those responses to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as part of an official legal filing.
The City of Lakewood has already filed an updated complaint with PUCO, asking the commission to resume its probable noncompliance process involving FirstEnergy’s reliability problems.
RELATED: Lakewood Mayor asks PUCO for new FirstEnergy investigation after repeated outages
The city originally filed a complaint after chronic and severe outages in the area.
Bullock says the personal stories show the real-world impact of the outages, and he says these examples are critical in addressing the severity of this situation.
“I had to eat out in a restaurant. I had to buy a hotel room. I had to not open my refrigerator because I had expensive medication there, so I went hungry all day until I could get a cooler for my multi-thousand-dollar medication,” Bullock said. “Those are real experiences of these people."
Some of the most serious reports involved medical equipment and health concerns.
Bullock says residents reported ventilators stopping while backup systems failed, leading to hospital trips.
He also says one resident reported a specialized air mattress deflating, leaving the person on a metal frame and resulting in pressure wounds that required medical care.
Bullock says other residents reported extremely high temperatures inside high-rise apartments during outages.
The city has also criticized FirstEnergy’s communication with residents and local officials.
Lakewood City Council is expected to discuss potential litigation and receive a briefing from the city’s law department during a meeting Monday evening at City Hall.
The meeting is open to the public at 6 p.m. Monday.
Lakewood officials say the push for answers will continue until FirstEnergy provides a long-term solution to the city’s reliability problems.
We have reached out to FirstEnergy for official comment and are working to get a response.
