Two citizen and energy advocacy groups have filed a formal petition requesting the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) investigate utility company AES Indiana’s procedures for restoring power. Long-term power outages can cause food and medicine to spoil, air conditioning to go out and vulnerable small businesses to close.
After storms knocked out power for many Indiana residents on June 29, around 80,000 AES customers lost power. This was not fully restored in some areas until July 4. According to Indiana Public Media, 50 poles and 39 transformers underwent repairs during and after these storms.
[Related: 76,000 without power following severe storms Thursday]
The petition, submitted by the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor and Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, requests IURC review AES Indiana’s practices and procedures for reinstalling power to customers due to the length many were without power. A news release from AES Indiana says their power restoration process is designed to put emergencies first, then restoring power to as many customers as possible.
The IURC is expected to review the petition's request for an investigation but has not yet announced a decision. If accepted, IURC states on its website it will hear evidence about each case and will conclude based on all possible evidence. AES Indiana said in a statement to Fox59 it will cooperate with investigators.
