Fines For Summer Power Outages
Last year, Lakewood went through a summer with the some of the most frequent power outages in history. Towns and lawmakers demanded that FirstEnergy had to fix its grid. But this summer, we’ve seen even more outages than we did last year. So, let’s delve deeper into why PUCO seeks $3 million fines for Cleveland power outages.
Power Outages Surge in June
Last year, from May until July, Lakewood saw a dozen summer blackouts that disrupted homes and businesses. As a result, FirstEnergy promised to invest $12.5 million into its grid to make it reliable.
Fast forward to this summer. Between June 30 and July 15, Lakewood saw seven blackouts. The first three occurred June 30, July 1, and July 2 with over 3,000 to 4600 customers affected. The third blackout cut power to over 1,000 customers for over 10 hours! More than 800 angry customers and several Lakewood officials filed complaints with PUCO to look into it.
PUCO Investigates Power Outages
When PUCO’s looked into the 2025 Lakewood blackouts, it found old electric gear at fault. However, with the 2026 power outages, PUCO has now found that many of the old hardware problems from last year remained. Worse still was that PUCO inspectors found utility line workers had used lawn sprinklers to cool overheating transformers.
Customers told PUCO that the power went out often and also took longer for the power to return. And with hot weather putting some customers’ health at risk, local officials were unable to plan how to help them.
Because of this and that many of the same problems remained from 2025, PUCO has filed formal notice against FirstEnergy. It has also proposed $3 million fine.
FirstEnergy now has until August 21 to respond.
PUCO and FirstEnergy Clashes Continue
The Lakewood power outages have not been the only clash between FirstEnergy and PUCO this year. In February, FirstEnergy asked PUCO to give its utility companies more time to respond to blackouts. PUCO denied that request saying that FirstEnergy’s promised grid upgrades should reduce blackouts, most notably in Lakewood. Similarly, PUCO ordered FirstEnergy to defer $245 million in storm damage costs over 25 years rather than five-years. However, PUCO plans to audit to verify FirstEnergy’s cost claims.
What FirstEnergy Customers Can Do Today
It’s unclear if a fine or an audit will lead to a more stable grid. But we can all agree that during hot summers blackouts are a huge problem. So it may be a great idea to plan ahead.
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