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Ohio Edison explains outage reporting process and local energy-aggregation advice to commissioners
Summary
Ohio Edison representative Josh Plaso told Richland County commissioners that customers must call the company's 800 number to report outages so dispatch can triage and locate problems; he also warned of rising generation costs tied to state deregulation and suggested residents contact suppliers about aggregation contracts.
Josh Plaso, a local engagement representative for Ohio Edison, briefed the Richland County Board of Commissioners May 13 on how customers should report outages and on trends affecting generation costs.
Plaso said customers and municipal facilities must call Ohio Edison's 800 number to report outages so the system can collect feedback and help pinpoint causes. "Anytime there's an outage, the customer has to call it in," Plaso said. "The system is designed, that the more feedback that it gets from where the outages are, they know exactly they can usually pinpoint what the cause of that outage is and send the appropriate folks."
On response expectations, Plaso said customers should allow company staff time to diagnose and dispatch crews. "I usually advise give me about 30 minutes to call me back. I'm not gonna know what's going on. Our guys aren't even gonna be on-site yet. Just to try to give that helps give everyone a peace of mind," he said. He recommended that after calling the 800 number, customers may contact a local Ohio Edison representative for updates.
Plaso also discussed energy-aggregation and supply costs, saying generation portions of customers' bills have been rising and encouraging residents and local aggregators to contact their suppliers or brokers. "Those rates are going up. I know most of them, it's like June and July," Plaso said, adding that the company does not control state-level deregulation policy.
The Board thanked Plaso for attending and encouraged residents to use the outage-reporting process and to coordinate with suppliers about aggregation arrangements. No formal action or county funding request followed the exchange.
