Suburbs unite to demand better ComEd response

The leaders of several Northwest suburbs will conduct a news conference Tuesday to address concerns about ComEd’s response to a spate of power outages this summer and its proposed “smart grid” technology.

The event organized by the Northwest Municipal Conference takes place at 10 a.m. at the James R. Thompson Center Blue Room, 15th Floor, 100 W. Randolph St., Chicago.

A ComEd spokesman said company representatives have not been invited to attend.

The Northwest Municipal Conference, an organization representing 41 towns in Cook, Lake, Kane and DuPage counties, has conducted a series of meetings to discuss what its leaders believe has been ComEd’s inadequate response to outages.

Suburban municipal leaders and area legislators are asking the energy provider to develop an emergency plan before lawmakers vote on the proposed “smart grid” rate hike.

Several Cook County suburbs were crippled by prolonged power outages after a series of severe storms in June and July, leaving critical public facilities and signalized intersections inoperable.

A Northwest Municipal Conference committee has recommended specific protocols for the utility to follow while restoring power during widespread outages, as well as legislative and regulatory actions needed to ensure ComEd emergency management and preparedness is able to handle future outages.

The committee suggests penalizing ComEd if it fails to follow the prescribed protocols, and calls for accountability measures that are absent from current state statute and in Senate Bill 1652, which would increase ComEd’s electric rates and corporate profits as part of switching to the “smart grid” technology.

Conference leaders are asking state lawmakers to table the legislation until the recommendations are adopted.

Fidel Marquez, ComEd senior vice president of Customer Operations, said the company has set up a task force to help improve storm response times, communication with customers and municipal leaders, and reliability of service.

“The July 11 storm that knocked out power to over 900,000 customers was really unprecedented,” he said. If the proposed smart grid infrastructure had been in place, Marquez added, there would have been 200,000 fewer customers affected by the storm.

Marquez said ComEd has conducted town hall meetings throughout Northern Illinois over the last couple of months, and several dozen meetings on storm response.

Some area municipalities have been working with ComEd to conduct public hearings about the smart grid technology. Des Plaines residents will have an opportunity to air their concerns at a public forum in the coming weeks. A hearing date has not been announced.