Anyone ever gotten ComEd reimbursement for a power outage?
As far as I am aware, no one? Very few people? have ever successfully claimed reimbursement from Commonweath Edison for damages (spoiled food, etc.) from a power outage caused by storms. Artie is wondering if that has changed given some 2013 articles such as this NBC Chicago report stating that ComEd could be held liable for some damages from a 2011 storm.
In a two-year legal battle that followed six torrential storms in 2011 and left hundreds of thousands of ComEd’s customers without power for hours and sometimes days, the ruling would force ComEd to reimburse consumers for spoiled groceries and local governments for municipal costs.
Public law states that in the event that more than 30,000 customers experience an outage for four or more hours, the utility company is responsible for compensation to affected consumers and local municipalities. Companies are exempt when unpreventable weather conditions cause damage, however.
ComEd argued that the outages were due to unpredictable weather and the company was cleared for five out of six storms alleged in the case. The ICC said ComEd was not liable for outages caused by broken tree limbs, lightning and other weather-related issues, but that many of the outages experienced in the severe weather on July 11, 2011, were as a result of company failures such as lack of maintenance.
The ComEd claim form can be found here. It does state that damages from storms, etc., will not be reimbursed except possibly in certain special circumstances outlined on the form.
We didn't have power for 6 days and live on a well system, so we didn't even have running water. It sucked! We lost all our food and had to bathe in the lake. I doubt they would reimburse us. I heard at one point you needed grocery receipts from the food that was spoiled.... It was a ridiculous idea, so we stopped looking into it. Maybe tomorrow I'll click on your link. lol
When there is a huge storm and mother nature takes over, how can we blame com ed? Since Monday night the com ed crews have been working all day and into the night right around the corner from me. Even today, a holiday they were working on repairs at 9:30 pm. I am grateful that I only lost power for 45 hours.
In 2011 the damage was out of control because ComEd had stopped trimming trees and repairing poles. So, whatever precautions they COULD have taken to insure quality electricity had not been done. So, in order to recover we had electrical teams for all over the country trying to get Chicagoland up and running again.
I'm not saying it's ComEds fault for us losing power, but it is definitely their fault for us losing 6 days worth and hundreds of dollars worth of food for thousands and thousands of people.
I did the whole claim thing 2 yrs ago and because it was mother natures fault I didnt get compensated. If Comed had to pay for all the damage can you imagine what wed be paying for electric THEN??!@# save your money and get a generator. we did and of course only used it one day in 2yrs :/
I survived two hurricanes in Florida nine years ago that tore our county apart. Bottom line: the cable and electric companies offer NOTHING in reimbursement. Instead, they advise you to file a claim against your homeowner's insurance for all losses, including spoiled food. The deductible was high, but it was well worth it, considering the damage to our house.
Buying a generator like buying insurance ! Its there if you need it .And you hope you don't (:
After not having electricity for 11 days after hurricane Ike, starting in July we eat down on the freezers.
We got ice before the storm hit and salvaged as much as possible by grilling. The saucepans that
work on grills were great.
What made it halfway tolerable was the very strong early season cold front that came through and knocked
night temps into the high50's.
I was one of the people in the power outage in 2011. We lost almost ALL our food. We were without power for 5 days. Never got a dime from Comed. Couldn't afford a generator or the gas to run it at the time. It is what it is. You do the best you can. Even ice was a lost cause after so many days in the heat even the ice cannot keep things safe. Luckily family and friends of ours allowed us to store some of our things in their freezer but yes we lost hundreds of dollars of food. I was told we could make a claim thru our homeowners insurance but it wasn't worth it due to the deductible.
My brother works for ComEd and he hasn't been home in 6 days! He works 18 hr. days when storms like this hit and doesn't take a break until power is restored. We had 2 days w/o power this week and just made the best of it. I went to sleep thinking about all the people in the world who live like that everyday-puts it in perspective.
This is another reason hoarding food is not a good idea. All those deals- defrosted muck doing no one good. I often hear of back up freezers going and folks losing their stockpiles, that happens without a storm.
It all depends on your needs. With 4 growing children, we would pay much more for staple items like meat, and convenience items like frozen pizza if we didn't stockpile in our deep freeze. We have a backup generator for when the power goes out and if the freezer dies on us, oh well. But any food loss would be more than accounted for by the savings by stockpiling versus buying these items only when we need them.
Also, remember a deep freeze will keep things frozen for another 30-40 hours after the power goes out or if the freezer dies, as long as you leave it closed. As long as you check on it everyday to see if it is running, you should be fine if/when the freezer dies. You will have at least a 24 hour window to obtain obtain a new freezer and/or eat and move what you can.
I appreciate everyone's replies and thanks to Rachel for posting the topic.
I lost power for 65 hrs. What really upset me is that when they finally came out to fix the problem it,I watched from my window,and only took them about an hour. Had they come out sooner my losses due to spoilage would have decreased significantly. I live on the Indiana border and I know for a fact that outside crews from Illinois were working on their power issues. Those crews should have been hired by ComEd and been working here instead of Indiana. .
We lost power a couple of summers ago and it wasn't due to the weather. It was a perfectly hot, sunny day. And, it was only part of my sub-division. The people across the street from us had power, but about 1/3 of our sub-division did not. It was due to faulty underground cables. Their on-line 'power out' grid indicated very few outages. Called Com Ed, they said someone was sent out. We actually saw the guy going from backyard box to backyard box, but then never saw him again. Still no power. Called Com Ed again and waited. Finally when some guy came out, he said the first guy was not a regular Com Ed guy and basically didn't know what he was doing and left. This guy finally fixed it, but it took many, many hours. We tried several times to make a claim...wasn't storm related. We contacted supervisors, etc., but got no where. They make it impossible to make any sort of claim.
I am currently on day 4 of a power outage in Will County Il, hoping to find some good news here. Since the pandemic, we have been shopping heavy so we could make less frequent trips to the store, we managed to get a majority of our deep freezer items to friends houses, but still lost a significant amount from our refrigerator and it’s freezer. I have the update from ComeEd stating its an “equipment problem”. Not that it’s storm related, and I’m sure it’s semantics... but I’m going to file a claim regardless. Where we are, I’m in a two mile radius from downtown Joliet, we have surges all of the time and lose power for an hour or so about every time it storms, but it has never been this long in the 20 years we’ve been here. I do appreciate the ComEd workers and their efforts, and I am grateful to still have a roof over my head and hot water, however, with the current scandal surrounding Comed and Mike Madigan, I might as well send in my claim form with my digital receipts. 🤷♀️
I would like to know how some people claim they get reimburse for for the foods that they lost but my family and me nothing we do it all right the receipts even pictures of the spoil foods NOTHING but some people get reimburse tell me how tjhe do it????
My wife and I had just went grocery shopping after spending 275.00 dollars it comes down to this loses food know I didn't see this or I. Wouldn't have gone