AEP announces $1 million contribution to Greater Columbus customers impacted by power outages
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After being in the dark for days and without refrigeration or air conditioning during the hottest week of the year so far, less than 60 American Electric Power customers remained without power in Franklin County as of 4:15 p.m. Friday.
Statewide, however, more than 20,200 AEP customers remained without power as of 4:15 p.m. Friday, according to American Electric Power Ohio's outage map. They were among a total of more than 40,000 Ohio customers who were still without electricity late Friday afternoon, which included large numbers of customers of First Energy and a Holmes County area cooperative.
Knox and Holmes counties as well as the Wooster and Mansfield areas remained the largest areas without service.
Power outage: AEP Ohio intentionally shut off power to some Greater Columbus neighborhoods. Here's why
AEP making $1 million contribution to relieve residents affected by outages
The company is partnering with local organizations such as the Columbus Urban League and IMPACT Community Action. LIfe Care Alliance and the Mid-Ohio Food Collective for the initiative.
"This week, extreme storms, followed by extremely hot weather resulted in a unique situation where power outages throughout Columbus had to be taken to prevent wider spread outages, which created challenges for many Franklin County residents," the company said in a statement.
AEP said the $1 million will be funded through the AEP Ohio Fund of the Columbus Foundation and "will be used to help relieve financial burdens these residents experienced as a result of this highly unique event."
People can also seek assistance through AEP's Neighbor to Neighbor Program and Franklin County Job and Family Service's Food Assistance Program.
SNAP recipients may receive benefits for food spoilage
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients who experienced food spoilage during the power outages may be eligible for replacement benefits, said the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services in a news release.
Households that lost food purchased with SNAP benefits due to a power outage of four hours or more can apply to receive replacement SNAP benefits for the amount of food the household lost. However, the amount should not exceed their monthly allotment. Replacement SNAP benefits will be added to recipients' Ohio Direction Card, said the agency.
Impacted households must complete JFS Form 07222 within 10 days of the loss and submit it to their county Department of Job and Family Services. In order for the county agencies to verify the extended power outage before replacing benefits, Job and Family Services encourage households to provide verification of the extended power outage. This can include screen shots of news reports, text or email alerts, or outage maps that show their specific area was without power for four hours or more.
To find a county office, visit jfs.ohio.gov/county.
Ohio Manufacturers' Association president calling for investigation
Ryan Augsburger, president of the Ohio Manufacturers' Association, is among those calling for an investigation of AEP's actions.
"Customers deserve to know the cause for the outages, as well as steps that could have been taken to prevent intentional load shedding," he said. "Customers also deserve insight into how billions of dollars of ratepayer funds have been spent to improve grid resiliency so we can be assured the system is working properly.”
NAACP questioning AEP's methods for shutting off power
The Columbus branch of the NAACP said it had questions about the decisions that were made to shut off power in certain areas but not others. The organization held a news conference encouraging AEP to explain its process for the intentional shutoffs.
"The majority of areas without electric were in the urban community, which is indication there may be some biases," the NAACP said in a news release.
The organization has requested AEP to answer questions about the outages, such as the selection of neighborhoods where power was turned off and did the company notify residents, government and social services agencies in Franklin County about the outages beforehand.
"The NAACP's concern is that these outages will add to the list of health, environmental, and crimes rates in these communities," the organization said.
COSI, Veterans museum offer free admission to keep residents cool
The National Veterans Memorial and Museum is offering free admission Thursday and Friday to help the Columbus community cool off and gain inspiration through veteran stories and artwork.
The museum, 300 W. Broad St., is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
COSI will be open for free to the public on Thursday until 5 p.m. as well due to the extreme heat and local power outages. The Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes exhibition is not included, however.
The museum is located at 333 W. Broad St.
AEP asking Columbus-area residents to reduce electric usage.
In light of rising temperatures again Thursday, AEP officials put out a call for Greater Columbus customers to reduce unnecessary electric usage through 7 p.m. with the goal of reducing the chances of more outages.
Ways to help include:
Turning thermostat up a few degrees
Closing curtains
Avoiding doing laundry or washing dishes
Turning off unnecessary lights or appliances
AEP will not reimburse customers for spoiled food
AEP said via email Thursfay that they typically do not reimburse for perishable items lost during an outage, but customers are welcome to submit a claim for review.
People can file a claim online at aepclaims.com.
"When outages are caused by storms, under our approved terms and conditions of service, customers are not eligible to be reimbursed," the company said. "We recommend they check their homeowner’s or renter’s insurance for any lost items."
Customers can also request an outage verification letter to request emergency food assistance from local food pantries and nonprofits by contacting AEP's call center at 800-672-2231.
People can seek additional information online at aepohio.com/assistance.
Homeowners insurance also can cover spoiled food costs
Certain homeowners insurance may also help cover the cost of lost food.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, insurance companies usually will cover up to $500 of food that spoils from a power outage caused by a covered peril under standard homeowners insurance policies. However, food spoilage coverage may include a $500 deductible, which means some insurance companies may only pay if the policyholder suffered more than $500 in food losses.
If policyholders want more than $500 in coverage, an insurer might offer additional spoiled-food coverage, but it will come at an extra cost, according to Forbes.
Some home insurance companies will cover food spoilage claims if a policyholder's utility company is at fault for the power outage, as was the case for many AEP customers. A person's policy might cover a food-loss claim prompted by a rolling blackout or another planned power outage, the magazine said.
Insurance companies like State Farm, AllState and USAA offer coverage on spoiled food, but it may depend on what type of policy a person has.
Why Columbus got slammed by a massive power outage
On Tuesday and Wednesday, more than 230,000 AEP Ohio customers were without power after intentional outages were conducted to protect the power grid, including outages affecting more than 169,000 in the Columbus area.
The outages were a result of powerful storms Monday night into Tuesday that toppled AEP transmission lines.
The day after the storms, multiple additional transmission lines in the AEP service area tripped out of service, according to PJM Interconnection, which oversees the flow of electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia, including all of Ohio.
Power outage food safety: How long is food good in the fridge and freezer after a power outage?
This caused surrounding lines to overload beyond safe levels. To prevent damage to equipment and the risk of cascading outages across a broader area, PJM directed AEP to lower flows across the overloaded lines by reducing load.
"Our regional grid has enough power to serve all customers, even during this heat-wave," PJM said. "The reason for most of the current outages is that there is not enough transmission capacity in service to get that power to every customer. AEP is working hard to restore these transmission lines. As soon as the lines are restored, PJM will coordinate their return to the grid."
Electricity restored by AEP earlier than originally expected
AEP said Wednesday that electricity was expected to be restored by 5 a.m. Thursday to all Columbus-area customers impacted by the emergency outage — about 19 hours earlier than first estimated. AEP previously estimated a restoration time of 11:59 p.m. Thursday for much of central Ohio.
Not the new normal: AEP says 'very, very unusual occurrence' causing outages
While the utility did not make that revised deadline, the earlier restoration time was due to crews making significant progress repairing damage to the transmission lines that bring energy to the Columbus area. The repairs allowed AEP to begin restoring power to substations and customers in the Columbus area beginning in the early morning hours Thursday, AEP said.
Once power is restored to the Columbus area, AEP said it expects "the power grid in the Columbus area to operate as it normally would, even as temperatures rise. We will continue to monitor system performance throughout the day (Thursday) and provide any updates as needed."
The potential impact of more severe weather moving forward
High temperatures in the mid- to upper-90s are expected Thursday along with the possibility of severe weather in the early evening hours, AEP noted.
On Wednesday, power in some neighborhoods came back on only to go off later as temperatures — and demand for power — climbed.
"We do not know what, if any, impacts the weather may bring, but we have crews ready to work on any outages that might occur," AEP said.
Many rural customers still facing large outages
While Columbus-area power is being restored, thousands of AEP's customers in more rural parts of Ohio remain without electricity. More than 4,000 customers in each of Knox, Holmes and Wayne counties, where storms hit particularly hard, were without power as of 9:30 Thursday morning.
Other counties with large outages include Tuscarawas, Richland and Coshocton.
Power should come back on for most areas Thursday, but it may be Saturday before power is fully restored throughout the state.
Dispatch reporters Mark Williams and Jim Weiker contributed to this report.
Micah Walker is the Dispatch trending reporter. Reach her at mwalker@dispatch.com or 740-251-7199. Follow her on Twitter @micah_walker701.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus power outage: AEP says power restored in area
