The Public Utility Commission’s new report on the response to last April’s storms, which caused widespread power outages for multiple days across western Pennsylvania, concludes that power companies were generally prepared, but they need to improve their weather forecasting and the process by which outages are predicted. The report also says there are “challenges” when it comes to consistently and reliably predicting power restoration.
Interestingly, the report contains little specific data for Indiana County, but does more closely examine some neighboring counties, such as Armstrong and Westmoreland.
The storms on April 29th knocked out electricity for around 76,000 Penelec customers. The lights came back on for 91.1 percent of Penelec’s affected customers within 72 hours of the event, for 98 percent within 96 hours, and full restoration was reported at 8:33 PM on May 4th, five days after the storm.
Penelec termed the storm “a historical first in terms of number and duration of outages,” with approximately 25.4 percent of its customers losing power.
The PUC report identifies 25 findings and 10 recommendations. The full report is available via a link provided with this story on our website.
https://www.puc.pa.gov/media/3768/25_tus_puc-april-2025-storm-report_final.pdf
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