On the evening of July 24th, the power in my disabled son's condo began acting erratically causing flaring of lights and other alarming power abnormalities. He called us, his parents. And we drove to his condo and after witnessing these flares and smelling smoke, we turned off all of his power at the panel box and brought him back to our house for the night. The next morning we called an electrician to trouble shoot for us as to the possible problem. The electrician tested the power coming into the condo and determined that the problem was originating from the wiring outside of the unit. He immediately called Allegheny Energy and they sent out a crew to replace the external electrical entrance to his unit. They were unable to complete the work at that time but did install a temporary entrance so that he could move back in. The resulting damage from that power surge included, but was not limited to, a whole house surge protector that needed replaced, three high end surge protectors that fried, three 37" flat screen TVs that burned out and two DVD-Rs that no longer worked. Additionally it ruined a small stereo, a microwave, the telephone system, both cable control boxes, an alarm clock and the power supplies to both a Wii system and a Sony Game Station. Over the next few days we replaced as much as possible for him but he was not able to afford to replace any of the more expensive items.
Three weeks after the original issue, Allegheny Power employees returned to the condo to install the permanent electrical entrance. They informed my son that they were going to turn off the power and then they proceeded to complete their installation. Eventually they restored the power and immediately the whole condo smelled of smoke and burning surge protectors. My son went out to tell them something was wrong and they told him not to worry about it and to just report it on his home owners policy. A few minutes later they left without checking any of the interior of the unit for damage. Again, we called the electrician to determine if the house was safe for him. That instance blew out the whole house surge protector yet again, as well as three new surge protectors designed to protect individual electronics. Additionally, both the power supply packs for the Wii and the Sony Game System needed replaced yet again.
Ultimately we filed a claim with Allegheny Energy to attempt to recoup some of our son's losses. For three months phone calls were made back and forth with the claims person and it appeared that at least he could be reimbursed for the items we actually had receipts for, as well as the electrician's bills for the whole house surge protector replacements. The reimbursement did not include the flat screen TV's which he was unable to replace due to cost. Last week we were told that Allegheny Energy would not pay to replace the whole house surge protector because we had called an electrician before calling the power company. That replacement cost over $600 and the necessity of replacing it had nothing to do with whom got called first. Ultimately an issue with Allegheny Power necessitated the replacement and regardless of who got called, or in what order, it needed done.
Let it be known that our son is a 36 year old disabled person who does not drive and who makes less than twenty thousand dollars annually working a full time job. His safety, as a handicapped individual living alone, is our main priority, and for weeks afterward he was afraid to go to bed at night incase the same thing happened again. Additionally, his after work entertainment was those TVs and game system components that were lost. Ultimately he suffered thousands of dollars worth of losses due to issues with the power utility and was offered a settlement of $746.72. He has 60 days to accept the settlement and cashing that check will void any future claims.
Allegheny Energy is a public utility whose task is to provide safe and reliable electrical power at somewhat of a reasonable cost. Like any company, they need to accept responsibility for issues directly related to malfunctions of their equipment. Attempting to cheat anyone, disabled or otherwise, is a disgrace.
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