PSO publishes estimated time to repair map
On their website, PSO has a map showing the estimated date by which 95% of the customers in an area will be restored to power. Most outlying areas should be back on line today, north and east by tomorrow, north Tulsa and the mile or so around Southern Hills by Monday, and central Tulsa -- roughly the city's 1957 boundaries -- by Tuesday. Problems affecting individual customers or small clusters may not be solved by then. Some people have been told not to expect service until after Christmas.
For all the talk about trees, I am wondering how much of the ice storm damage is simply due to the effect of a 1/2 inch or more of ice on above-ground power lines. The main transmission lines are too high to be affected by trees; did we lose any of them? If no amount of tree trimming will spare us from this kind of situation, we need to weigh the cost of burying the lines against the costs -- loss of productivity, loss of perishable food, deaths and injuries. I would love to see an analysis showing how many customers were without power due to various causes -- downed line from ice, downed line from tree, blown transformer.
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I would also like PSO to bury the lines. One person told me that downtown was up and running because PSO has those lines safely underground.
Since Governor Henry has probably received Federal assistance dollars by now, PSO could get the needed amount to bury the lines once and for all. Years ago, PSO used to do "preventative maintenance" and trim the large trees away from the power lines before winter. It did not happen this year and now that older neighborhoods has many neighbors without power until at least Tuesday. Many neighbors have the problem of trees that fell on the lines and the meter and fuse box are ripped from the homes so they are in need of an electrician which the news needs to be the "available" electricians online not the info that the news people are posting. I spent several days calling the very long list and finally made contact with an electrician that we hope will be available and dependable to help soon.
Now there is talk that there is a shortage of utility meters and with federal assistance there should be plenty of those shipped overnight for availability where an electrician can get those easily. Watch out for electricians taking advantage and charging too much. The news should post how much is a normal cost to repair a utility meter and/or fuse box meter.
There is shortage of parts for the utility meters and there are still thousands that still need help. There needs to be an emergency Mayor's help to FEDX those meters and all of the electrical extra parts that the electricians needs. It's holding back many from getting their power restored. Federal emergency money will be given anyway, so Mayor Taylor needs to get that done right away to help these electricians get the parts and supplies they need. I have spoken with several and they all said that's the problem.
Yesterday I saw a helicopter circling overhead the Florence Park neighborhoods and Utica Square areas that was heavily hit with the heavy old trees that fell on homes and PSO lines. It's been a week and they still are waiting for PSO to get the PSO live wires off my parents roof. The live wires are a fire hazard that I have been waiting a week for PSO to fix.
After the power is restored to everyone, there needs to be a vigorous and transparent discussion of state and local public policy regarding electric power lines.
Very similar to what happened last week, 20 years ago this month on Christmas day, freezing rain caused a very wide-scale power outage in N.E. Oklahoma.
Questions that should be raised:
WHY do our local building codes and zoning codes still permit subdivisions to be built without buried utilities?
Possible Answer: Builders, developers and AEP do not want the added costs of burying the utilities.
Is owing an untrimmed TREE, encroaching on the utility easement, more important than electricity (and HEAT) in the winter?
Answer: If the tree is growing in the easement, cut it down. If it is encroaching on the easement, trim it back.
The magnitude of the city-wide problem could have been substantially mitigated by the foregoing actions.
The added-costs to the residents of Oklahoma including extra expenses, insurance deductibles, and lost productivity will be enormous.
PSO called me 3 different times tonight and there was no one on the phone but a busy signal when I answered. I called the same PSO number back and PSO said it was another one of their errors and that others had complained of the same PSO phone message tonight.