11 Investigates: Repeated power surges prove costly for local community

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. — Earlier this month, 11 Investigates told you about a power surge that damaged thousands of dollars worth of electronics in Crabtree, Westmoreland County.

Since then we’ve have been inundated with calls and emails from a nearby community facing even more costly damages.

Dozens of residents who live in Salem Township and Bell Township, both of which are in Northern Westmoreland County have lost tens of thousands of dollars worth of electronics and appliances.

They recently sat down to speak with Chief Investigator Rick Earle about their concerns that one day the power surges will take something they can’t replace.

Earle: This furnace. This got hit as well?

Robin Kowalczyk, resident: Yes, the boards inside get fried.

From homes to businesses, people who live and work in the Slickville area showed Earle some of the appliances they’ve lost.

Earle spoke with the owner of the Slickville Deli.

She’s been hit hard by the surges.

Earle: So this one (a commercial coffee pot) doesn’t work anymore.

Carrie Hult, Slickville Deli Owner: Nope we lost this one about six months ago.

Even a nearby church sustained damages.

“It was 55 degrees for church services because we didn’t have a furnace, " said Father John Harrold, Pastor of St. Sylvester Roman Catholic church in Slickville.

The power surges have taken an emotional and financial toll on these communities.

“Six or seven thousand dollars,” said Kowalczyk.

“Four tankless water heaters, and two TV’s,” said Darby Zerbini of Bell Township.

“Eight-hundred and fifty dollars,” said Jodi Beech of Bell Township.

“We lost a TV, a microwave, a dryer, the furnace again, the ultraviolet light, the coffee maker,” said Todd Hepler, also of Bell Township.

During the past three years, at least four power surges have hit the small town of Slickville and surrounding communities, including the most recent in early January.

“You could hear like three or four loud pops, and then all of sudden you hear this buzzing and sizzling sound. You could actually hear the electricity coming through the lines and you’re standing there waiting for things to just start exploding. It was so scary,” said Becky Maruca, of Slickville.

The surges have fried circuit boards in furnaces, hot tubs, refrigerators and blew out surge protectors.

Many residents, who gathered one morning at the Slickville Deli, told Earle they filed complaints for reimbursement with West Penn Power.

They’ve all been denied.

“Well it’s an act of God, we can’t, you know, we can’t control it, they want you to turn it into your homeowners,” said Maruca.

Just last year, State Representative Jill Cooper, of Export, who represents the area where the surges have occurred, held a town hall meeting with the power company.

About 100 people, who have suffered damages, showed up.

“The town hall meeting guy (from the Power company) promised us rainbows and unicorns, and he retired a month later,” said Dave Stemerick, of Slickville, who attended the town hall meeting.

Earle reached out to West Penn Power and a spokesman said the surges happen when trees fall on lines that run through a dense forest in the area.

According to West Penn, the trees, many from off-right-of-way properties, are knocking high voltage lines onto lower voltage lines, causing the surges along a five-mile stretch that runs through a dense forest.

The company said, “Despite substation breakers and other equipment that can sense trees and de-energize a line in a fraction of a second, surges may occur.”

Since the town hall meeting last year, crews have trimmed and removed trees along the lines.

But residents said with no guarantees, they are taking drastic measures.

“We’re to the point now when it gets windy, we’re going to have to turn the breakers off on our furnace and all that and we use our wood burner because we’re afraid that it’s going to happen again,” said Tammy Previc, of Slickville.

Residents told Earle they believe it’s not a question of if, but when, and they fear the next time they may lose something they can’t replace.

“At some point, there will be a very large fire when somebody’s not home to deal with it. and they’ll lose a house. it’s going to happen,” said Chris Carney, of Slickville.

“It’s a matter of time before somebody does get hurt or worse. it’s going to happen,” said Maruca.

Again, the power company said most of the trees causing the surges come from private property, and they are working with landowners to trim them as well.

The power company also says it’s working with engineers to see if there are any other measures they can take to prevent these surges.

Below is the full statement on the surges from West Penn Power.

“West Penn Power has several power lines in the Slickville area including a lower-voltage distribution line serving residential customers and local businesses and higher-voltage sub-transmission line that serves industrial customers. There is a nearly 5-mile stretch roughly from Saltsburg to Beaver Run Reservoir where the higher voltage power line and a lower voltage line share the same utility poles. This is a common configuration rather than having side-by-side power lines that requires more right of way. This 5-mile section cuts through dense forest.

“Over the years, there have been instances of off-right-of-way trees -- those beyond the power line right of way where we trim trees and maintain vegetation -- falling into the line and causing the 25,000-volt line attached near the top of the pole to contact the 12,000-volt line positioned further down the pole. Despite the presence of substation breakers and other equipment on the line that can sense problems like trees or branches contacting the line and can de-energize the line often in a fraction of a second, surges may occur that can damage equipment in customers’ homes. West Penn Power has denied claims made over the years from customers because each incident was caused by off-ROW trees and severe weather, usually concurrently – conditions beyond West Penn Power’s control.

“As I mentioned to you previously, we recommend that customers file their damage claims with their insurance company. Customers who sustained damage can file a claim with West Penn Power by phoning 1-800-686-0021. Some insurance companies require their customers to first file a claim with the utility and often want the denial letters as part of the record to process claims.

“The town hall meeting you reference occurred in January 2023. After the meeting, our forestry crews patrolled the 5-mile section of line and identified trees beyond our right-off-way that could pose a threat to the line and removed them. Tree risk is not always simple to spot. It’s not always as obvious as dead, dying or leaning trees. Many are live and perfectly healthy until they are blown over by heavy storm winds. Other times, an off-right-of-way tree or branch is shoved into the line by another tree further away from the line that topples -- a domino effect.

“West Penn Power trims and performs vegetation management along its rights-of-ways on a five-year cycle. This particular section of line is trimmed twice every five years since it is really two different lines on the same poles for about five miles. In fact, crew will be trimming along this section of line over the next several months -- some of the work has been done already -- as part of our regularly scheduled vegetation maintenance work. The March 2023 targeted tree removal was in addition to this regular work.

“We’ve done what we can through forestry and maintenance work to reduce the impact of off-right-of-way trees and branches falling into the lines and causing outages or surges. However, the area where the line is located remains heavily wooded and off-right-of-way trees may pose future risk.

“Engineers are studying potential projects that may provide some help. I don’t know when those projects may be identified, but I will reach back out when I learn something.”

-- Todd Myers, West Penn Power.

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