Readers Sound Off on BGE's Post Irene Performance

Reader comments:

I am nonplussed at BGE's failure to return power to my neighborhood in Bowie, MD., 3 days after Irene, with no estimated timeline for power restoration in my area beyond the blanket "by Friday" promise BGE issued on Day 1. Thanks to BGE, I only have access to my BlackBerry, so I don't know who to complain to at BGE. Their phone numbers link to endless maddening loops of automated uninformative messages. Unlike, PEPCO, which publicized its aggressive tree-trimming program, and which has vastly imrpved communications with its customers (e.g., through effective use of automated robo-calls to help prep customers for Irene), BGE limited its preparations to pre-positioning work crews. The power in the wooded swath between Annapolis and Bowie experiences frequent outages, not just during the rare hurricane or "Snowmageddon" event, when the wind blows hard. While I appreciate the comments of Gov O'Malley, I was incensed at the comments of MD's LtGov on WTOP Radio this evening, who sounded like a spokesperson and apologist for the power companies rather than an elected official empathizing with constituents, whose families, elderly and school-age children alike, are living a virtual third-world existence, without refrigerated food or access to television, computers, washers and dryers, alarm systems, or even street lights around our homes, to deter criminals.

Thank you for this venue to vent and express my frustration.

Sincerely, as night is falling, in Bowie.

I live in the city and only had one black out, which lasted 5-10 minutes and the lights flickered the rest of the night of the storm. This even though a line was down about a block away from where I live. I think BGE did a commendable job this time around.

I'm on one of the blocks in Better Waverly without power. The blocks immediately east and west of me have power. How do you think I feel about BGE?

Meanwhile, I watched three police officers standing guard over a downed wire in Roland Park on Sunday, and then saw it being repaired Monday. I guess it pays to have the right zip code.

I live in Rodgers forge and we lost power later sat night/early sunday morning. We are being told the blanket response of late friday night or early sat morning. The elementary school in our neighborhood is closed a third day as they still don't have power. We have only seen the Bge trucks once and we were told they were only assessing the damages and that was on Monday. We have not seen any trucks in the neighborhood since. As we get closer to a week without power it is starting to wear thin on all I have talked to in this area. The traffic lights and other houses around us all have power back. I actually saw a Bge truck about 2 hours ago on stevenson lane and he was sitting in the truck messing with a laptop and a phone. I'm very disappointed.

Via Facebook:

Catherine Evans We are four hours into our fifth day without power. My attempts to get information from BGE about our area have been fruitless. After going through all the prompts to get specific information about our location, I reached a human who was ...only "authorized" to give the same blurb that the generalized, automated response gave - sometime on Friday. Since I don't have electricity, I haven't had information and can't compare our situation with others. (I'm writing on borrowed generator power.) The human I spoke to said BEG was prioritizing those folks who had been out the longest. We lost our power at 5 pm on Saturday, and haven't seen a BGE truck yet. I simply cant' believe what I was told. BGE communications - "F".

Shervonne Cherry I know BGE is doing their best...but it's frustrating for me and my complex to see a patchwork of homes with power in my neighborhood. I have not had power since Sunday but neighbors across the street never lost power. A BGE truck has been guarding a powerline on my street since yesterday morning....but no explanation as to why they are not working on it.