Power problems persist in Chester County

ByCHAD PRADELLI WPVI logo
Thursday, July 10, 2014
VIDEO: Power problems persist in Chester Co.
Some people are still in the dark, days after they lost power.

WILLISTOWN TWP., Pa. (WPVI) -- Some People are still in the dark, days after they lost power from Tuesday night's storm.

Late Thursday afternoon power was restored to Dutton Mill Road in Willistown Township. But for days homeowners were using generators to get by while power crews worked tirelessly to put the lights back on.

Inside John Burni's home a fan hummed as a generator roared outside.

If he didn't have the generator it'd be tough to stay there - especially when temperatures soared above 90 degrees.

The 86-year-old kept his fridge cold and did what he had to get by while crews tried to restore power.

Burni says, "When I need something else I just unplug and plug that in. I got the refrigerator running 'cause I got a lot of food in there."

Neighbor Marion Flinn says, "It's unbelievable that they can't have better service when they keep raising rates."

Burni may be taking the outage in stride in but Flinn is not.

This is the second power outage on Dutton Mill Road in the past two weeks and she's fed up with being among the last customers restored.

"I'm calling them up and telling them, 'You know what? I went to a motel and can't afford to pay your bill this month... I used the money I would to pay you for the motel because I can't sleep,'" Flinn said.

PECO says 98% of the affected customers were restored within 36 hours.

Crews have been working day and night and the lights should be clicking back on tomorrow for the remaining customers...if not tonight.

The company likely wishes more customers had the patience of John Burni.

He says, "Hey. Just take things as they come, that's all. You know, we have more trouble than this in the world."

In terms of how things get done, PECO says high voltage lines get priority, then those lines that affect the most customers.

For the latest power outage numbers from PECO visit peco.com or follow @PECOconnect on Twitter.