Does it seem like public utilities and other energy companies are getting better ... or worse ... at serving the public?
In Illinois right now, thousands of people who lost electricity in an ice storm last week may well say "worse." That's because some of them are still without power.
The storm was admittedly a whopper. More than a half million customers of the Ameren company lost electricity, and the company says it has been working relentlessly ever since to restore full service. But the fact remains, tens of thousands of customers were driven from their homes by the cold and darkness while the repair effort went on.
The blackout in New York, the brownouts on the West Coast, and of course, the lingering problems on the Gulf Coast following Katrina, have raised alarms about the vulnerability of the nation's power grid.
In Illinois, where people waited longest for their power to be restored after the recent storm, state officials are asking questions: Did Ameren have enough repair crews standing by? Did it do enough to prevent damage by, for example, trimming tree branches near power lines aggressively? Some officials in Illinois and neighboring Missouri are calling for an investigation.
Ameren says it welcomes these questions. It says it has done an excellent job maintaining its infrastructure, responding to its customers, and mitigating the impact of a terrible storm.
My question is this: In the wake of Katrina and all the delays that followed in restoration of even basic services, are you more ... or less ... inclined to believe that the "powers that be" are watching over your home's power supply?
