20011227Letter to Staff Requesting PUC Action.pdf

,. .
FROM : PdnaSon i c cf~PF
D~C. 28. 201011 ~: 1 (t-'f'1 t-' 1
page FAX
[phone]
TO:Keith Hessing
FROM:Doris Helge and Bill Uhl ~fS tj/
SUBJECT:Atlanta Power Company
DATE:12.27-
Dear Keith:
Thanks for your responsiveness to our telephone calls conceqJJng the
electrical outage of December 20 and 21 , 2001.
Because P.C. still has not responded to a petition signed by a significant
percentage of the town about 1 V2 years ago, we feel a need to put this
matter in writing and once again ask for the P.C. to take action rather
than forget about "the Atlanta problem~ until we face yet another outage.
The last outage is just another instance in which a lengthy power problem
occurred and Dave was unavailable to fix it. The highway districtcommissioner, Ron Shears, stated by telephone on 12.21-01 that "Davefirst responsibility is to the road , not the power company.
The power was out at least by 4:00 a.m. I know because I got up at that
time. The street lights were out, and our house lights wouldn t work. SinceDave was observed (by Patti Inama with whom you have spoken) leavingtown about 6:30 a.m., a reasonable person might assume that he chose
not to check on the power outage before he left town. In any event, he didnot return until approximately 3:15 p.m. the next day even though
commissioner Shears discussed the outage with Dave on 12.21-0l.(Shears saw Dave on the road as he was on his way back into town on 12.
21-01.)
The power in our house did not come back on until 4:40 p.m. on 12.21.which is an outage of over 36 hours.
Not only were consumers without power for over 36 hours, a private citizen
had to furnish a generator to the school so the kids could have their
Christmas party.
FROM : Panason i c PPF
DEe. 28. 21211211 2:17PM P2
Page 2
As you know, over the years, we have documented that this is a chronic
problem " outages occur , and there is not a back-up person to Dave. Nor
is there a back.up generator. Although the reasons vary, there is usually
some reason why Lynn can t make it in to check on power outages.
As per P.C. regulations, customers are not supposed to be
inconvenienced, particularly:
For more than 24 hours
. When a problem is not weather related, and certainly
. When no one even checks to see what the problem is.
Please note that the problem took about 11/2 hours to fix after someone
finally got around to assessing it. Yet, consumers were without power for
over 36 hours. This defies common sense and is not consistent with what
we understand to be P.C. guidelines.
Our requests continue to be the following, as expressed on the petition
signed by so many citizens about 1 Y2 years ago. We would like:
. A back-up person to handle power outages when Dave is unavailable
. A back-up generator
Concerning Lynn s premise that he would need to raise our electrical rates
to accomplish the above , please note:
T~e occasional services of a back.up person should not be expensive.
. A reasonable person would assume that Lynn would want to collect
income from commercial property billed as residential. (E., a
customer running a retail business with a posted sign in front of a
building adjacent to their home yet being billed as a residential
customer.) A reasonable person would also assume that Lynn would
want to collect from a comrytercial business if it is extending a single
power line from its main business to rental units (sometimes rented
over night and sometimes for over 30 days; one was even used as a
personal residence). If this customer is indeed paying only one
service tee even though the line from one commercial unit is
extended to a series of rental units, and if P .C. regulations require
such dwellings to be separately metered versus all of the units
accessing power via the same line, it would seem reasonable to
charge such a commercial consumer his fair rate versus raising therates of residential consumers.
FRO~ : PanaSoni c PPF
DEC. 28. 21211211 2:18PM P3
Page 3
Lynn does not follow what we understand to be a P.C. regulation that he
meet regularly with his customers. We also do not receive the proper
paperwork when connecting. We do not receive annual mailings as per
C. guidelines. Thus, we again request assistance from the P.
Keith , you are a professional who practices returning calls and being
responsive to consumers. However , we have been waiting for a P.
response to the town s petition for over 11,12 years.
Please tell us the next steps we or you should take to receive appropriate
services (especially because we pay not only one of the highest rates in the
S., but a monthly "service charge:).
Thank you in advance for your assistance.