To the Editor:
This letter is about Carroll Electric. This letter is not intended to bash the electric provider, but to air some issues I think need to be addressed by the people who run the company. I contacted one of them this past week. I thought it best to go directly to a decision maker with the hope concerns of several customers would be of interest to the decision maker but that faded away quickly and a clearer picture emerged. It’s hard for me to understand why people in charge tend to take things personally.
Sometimes contracts are misunderstood by all of us. A contract is an agreement. It can be between two or more individuals and it comes in various forms with various stipulations.
Let’s zero in on the agreement with our electrical provider. Carroll Electric agrees to provide service to its customers and its customers agree to pay Carroll Electric for those services. If, I, the customer, do not live up to my end of the bargain, I will be eating my Big Mac in the dark. Conversely, if I do pay for the service and Carroll Electric does not provide me their service, then what is it that I get to take away from them? One of their trucks? A grid?
We all know neither the customer nor the company is always 100% on the mark. Sometimes the customer has uncontrollable circumstances that generate a delay in the payment of their bill and sometimes a well advertised 48 hour in advance snowstorm is going to play havoc with our electric. If the customer has the means to pay the bill, but decides they would rather go to Chucky Cheese instead, then that’s not keeping the faith of the agreement. In return, if the Company has the manpower and information to service the customer during a power outage resulting from acts of Mother Nature and they do not fulfill those services to the best of their ability at that time, they have sold their customer short and if they have sold their customer short, then they get to be questioned on that issue just as they get to question you when you didn’t give them the service of your money.
I clearly understand how hard all crews work; the long hours they work and bravery they exude in getting our power up and running, including the office personnel and their families. I also understand they are fully aware how miserable everyone is and how badly they want power on for every single customer. This letter is not directed at them. Everybody has a set of marching orders and those marching orders are set forth by management. It is to that person that I ask the following questions:
1). The latest snowstorm watches and warnings came 24 to 48 hours in advance. Did CE have all personnel notified, on call, scheduled and ready to go if needed at a moment’s notice? There has been speculation not all crews were utilized.
2). The latest storm outage was 80% heavy snow on tree limbs that affected the lines. It appears CE has subbed out tree assistance to qualified local tree service companies in the past as needed. Did CE have every available qualified local tree service companies available to assist crews in removing those troubled areas or did they turn away qualified local help?
3). Crews that work days in a row have to eat sometime. Does CE admonish those who take a break? Did management eat?
4). CE services six counties, 12,000 customers. In times of distress, customers want information. One of the greatest fears is not knowing something.
In responding to phone calls from their customers questions, does CE know any other response other than, “I don’t know,” and is CE using outside phone centers to field calls?
5). It does not appear that CE has any plan in place for keeping their customers informed as to progress in time of crisis. Per my inquiry via phone, it doesn’t look like they are receptive to any suggestions, either, ie. designated call centers in each county where a CE rep can call the center and give an update and then the centers can disburse that info to residents. That would alleviate some of the 12,000 calls to CE. Why would CE not be receptive to ideas from their customers?
6). Is it true that CE call responders are directed to not forward any info to their customers?
The person I spoke with on the phone said he conducted a meeting of his employees and asked them how they thought things could have run smoother regarding the outages. I suggested to him it might be a productive idea to ask the customers that question. I suggested he utilize the Carroll Electric publication and present his question to customers and print the customers’ responses in a future publication.
Carroll Electric knows exactly how many crews they have, how many tree services are qualified to work around electric, how many counties they service, where the power grids are located, which power station serves, etc. They know where they dispatch crews, when they dispatch crews and eventually, what the problem is. They have information. They can parcel that information to you, the customers with fair accuracy when power may be restored.
Outages in the summer are one thing. Outages in the sub zero winter are another. There is a big difference in 2 hours vs. 2 days.
Cold can kill. It’s one thing to not have information. It’s another to have the information and not share it.
We are not finished with summer and winter storms that result in power outages.
We all should have a plan. God Bless the generator. God Bless the woman who invented it.
Terry Vahila
Malvern, Ohio
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