Aging and malfunctioning infrastructure owned and maintained by ComEd has been the primary culprit in a majority of power outages in Downers Grove over the last four years, according to a recent report issued by village officials.
That conclusion was drawn after an analysis of annual outage filings made by ComEd with the Illinois Commerce Commission since 2007.
Downers Grove officials conducted the report to gain a better sense of frequent resident complaints over the utility’s reliability, analyzing the number of outages as well as customer relations practices. Since 2007, the village has had 1,482 power outages, of which “equipment related issues” were the “number one cause,” the report states.
In an emailed statement, ComEd spokeswoman Martha Swaney did not dispute the findings but said the utility has made substantial improvements across the region, spending $10 billion across the area, including in Downers Grove. She added that the utility typically spends $60 million a year in tree trimming.
—Brian Slodysko
