{"id":5195,"date":"2025-08-18T14:21:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T19:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/?p=5195"},"modified":"2025-08-18T14:21:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T19:21:32","slug":"northeast-ohio-still-struggling-with-outages-firstenergy-promises-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/northeast-ohio-still-struggling-with-outages-firstenergy-promises-investment\/","title":{"rendered":"Northeast Ohio Still Struggling with Outages; FirstEnergy Promises Investment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>FirstEnergy Promises to Invest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Ohio-summer-power-outages-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Power outages in northeastern Ohio have gone on too long for many FirstEnergy customers. Learn what the utility plans to prevent more.\" class=\"wp-image-5214\" title=\"FirstEnergy Tells Customers It Promises to Invest\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Ohio-summer-power-outages-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Ohio-summer-power-outages-230x153.jpg 230w, https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Ohio-summer-power-outages-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Ohio-summer-power-outages-480x320.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Ohio-summer-power-outages.jpg 724w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption><center><em>FirstEnergy&#8217;s northeastern Ohio customers endured 13 power outages this summer. Learn what the utility plans to do to fix its grid.<\/em><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This summer has been hard for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/companies\/firstenergy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">FirstEnergy<\/a><\/strong> customers in northeast Ohio. So far, the region has seen rising <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/ohio-electricity-rates-by-city\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">electricity rates<\/a> and a high number of power outages. In answer, FirstEnergy held a public meeting about the outages and made promises to fix the Ohio grid. But are they doing enough? Let&#8217;s discuss what FirstEnergy plans to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>FirstEnergy Outages in Northeast Ohio<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Between May 17 and July 17, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/cleveland-area-seeing-alarming-bouts-of-firstenergy-power-outages\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FirstEnergy customers<\/a> in the Cleveland area saw 12 outages. Since that time, then number grew after <a href=\"https:\/\/fox8.com\/news\/thousands-without-power-in-cleveland\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">a massive outage<\/a> last week. The power cut affected to thousands, reaching from western Lakewood east to the center of downtown Cleveland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can guess, local residents and lawmakers are fed up! They want answers and the blackouts to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Northeast Ohio Outages Meeting <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, FirstEnergy held a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland19.com\/2025\/08\/11\/firstenergy-holds-town-hall-lakewood-address-ongoing-power-problems\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">town hall meeting<\/a> to discuss the problem. The meeting drew in over 100 residents and officials who were more than willing to share their anger. Some talked about how the blackouts affected businesses, homes, and medical equipment. In short, they didn&#8217;t think the utility is doing enough to make it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, during the meeting, FirstEnergy unveiled a plan to invest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news5cleveland.com\/news\/local-news\/we-follow-through\/firstenergy-unveils-12-5m-investment-plan-as-some-lakewood-residents-are-hit-with-another-power-outage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$12.5m<\/a> into grid upgrades. Here&#8217;s the breakdown: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>$5K+ to repair and upgrade transformers<\/li><li>$4M to replace transformers<\/li><li>$1.6M to replace circuit breakers<\/li><li>$6.9M to install smart meters<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>FirstEnergy also talked about hiring foresters to find and remove look for dead, sick, or dying trees. The utility estimates their plan would be complete by 2027 and should make their grid more reliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of the meeting, a resident <a href=\"https:\/\/spectrumnews1.com\/oh\/cleveland\/news\/2025\/08\/12\/firstenergy-town-hall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">asked for an apology<\/a>. But while the speaker agreed that the problem was not acceptable, they did not apologize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>What Northeast Ohio Customers Do Next<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Right now, we have to wait and see if the FirstEnergy plan will reduce the outage problem. Thankfully, we are getting near the cooler autumn months. This means lower energy need and less strain on the local grid. However, it&#8217;s still a good idea to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.redcross.org\/get-help\/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies\/types-of-emergencies\/power-outage.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">plan ahead<\/a> just in case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As always, you can count on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com<\/a> for news and tips that could affect your bills. You can also shop right here for the best energy deals in town.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FirstEnergy Promises to Invest This summer has been hard for FirstEnergy customers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false},"categories":[103,66],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5195"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5195"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5216,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5195\/revisions\/5216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}