No Repeat of Blackout This Summer, Say Utilities

Are US and Canadian electrical utilities ready for the increased demands the soaring mercury will be putting on the power grids this summer? It's an important question that needs asking, say many observers, considering that record levels of power consumption last August helped contribute in part to the massive cascading blackout that hit the Eastern portion of the continent. A story in the Columbus, Ohio Record-Courier reports that officials from FirstEnergy, an Akron-based electric utility, have assured the governor of the state that the electrical grid will be able to withstand the unexpected this summer. The story by Heather Rainone, entitled: Are Electric Companies Ready For Summer? reports that investigators have placed much of the immediate blame for the massive outage on FirstEnergy.

"Falling tree branches on lines for FirstEnergy, in part, triggered the massive blackout," writes Rainone. "According to news reports, federal and Canadian authorities have leveled much of the blame for the Aug. 14 power outage on FirstEnergy, saying that line failures south of Cleveland triggered a voltage imbalance that sent the system out of control."

Electrical utilities FirstEnergy, Cinergy, and American Electric Power are now assuring consumers and government officials that a great deal of work has been done in the past year to correct a lot of the grid problems in Ohio, Michigan and New York.