ComEd moves residents' power feeder

At their first report to the city about frequent outages in West Chicago, ComEd representatives said they had made progress, while Chamber of Commerce officials called for an expansion of the probe into local blackouts.

Last week ComEd managers met with homeowners from the Cornerstone Lakes subdivision, where residents reported they have seen outages every month for the past two years.

The blackouts last for various lengths of time, and affect only parts of the subdivision, leaving some neighbors without electricity staring across the street at a brightly lit house. Aldermen got involved, and ComEd said they had drawn up a plan to deal with the problem.

On Thursday, company officials told the city's Infrastructure Committee they had moved Cornerstone to another "feeder" that provides more reliable power.

"The good news is that in just a week's time we were able to switch over the residents," said Sylvia Rogowski, a ComEd external affairs manager. "That switch would have been seamless to residents."

The new feeder is based in West Chicago, unlike the old one, which was in Wayne Township.

Rogowski also said the company had accelerated long-term plans for improvements that include installing new power lines along Kautz Road. The previous deadline for the project was December 2008.

Also Thursday, David Sabathne, executive director of the West Chicago Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told the committee that local industries need help too.

"When you lose power at a business, it may take two days to get back up," he said. Several businesses had reported losing thousands of dollars due to the blackouts, Sabathne said.

He said the business community wanted to work with the city to find options, such as a new power plant, a cooperative agreement for generators.

Rogoski said she would look into the problem and also offered to work with the group.