PITTSBURGH — State Representative Abigail Salisbury is calling out Duquesne Light, saying the company is avoiding its own customers.
Duquesne Light was scheduled to attend a special committee meeting on Wednesday evening about its response to April’s massive storm.
Rep. Salisbury says they canceled just about two hours before the meeting was set to start.
Salisbury represents Pennsylvania’s 34th District and was appointed to the county’s Special Committee on Emergency Preparedness and After-Action Review. The committee was recently formed in reaction to April’s massive storm that left hundreds of thousands without power.
“People are livid,” Salisbury said. “We were going to hear testimony from them about storm response and ask questions that were submitted to us by constituents.”
She says the company is squandering an opportunity to engage with community members who are anxious for answers.
“Frankly, it is getting worse every time they cancel - every time they do not show up at something. People get angrier. It would just be easier for them to show up and talk because that’s all people want,” she said.
Channel 11 did reach out to Duquesne Light who told us:
DLC began an after-action review of our response to the April 29 storm before recovery was even complete to identify opportunities to better serve customers and the community before, during and after severe weather events. This review included multiple in-person survey sessions with affected customers, multiple public hearings to answer questions from the public and elected officials, and nearly 40 sessions with 1,000 DLC employees to solicit feedback on what we can do better.
Among our biggest priorities are developing more accurate and localized estimated times of restoration, improved communications with customers, better coordination on removal of downed trees with our municipal partners and providing more transparency about the company’s criteria and order for restoring power to everyone from first responders to our residential customers.
We appreciated the opportunity to speak with Allegheny County Council committee leadership today to discuss further collaboration on emergency preparedness and storm response. We look forward to releasing the report at the mutually agreed-upon rescheduled meeting in September.
The rescheduled meeting is set for Sept. 17.
“I will not be surprised if there is no September meeting with Duquesne Light. I hope that’s not the case. I would love to be wrong,” Salisbury said.
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