BWL Officials Grilled for Hours on Poor Ice Storm Response

Those charged with finding out just what led to the breakdown in service for hundreds of thousands of utility customers in the Lansing area back in December, received a good bit of information on Monday.

At issue is not only whether the Board of Water and Light should have done better when an ice storm hit the area near Christmas last year, but how to make sure the service they provide in the future is more responsive to customer needs.

Some residents in the area were without service for nearly two weeks prompting concerns that the company was totally unprepared for the storm system that hit.

BWL officials were grilled for some five hours by members of a committee formed to investigate the lapse.  An ill-timed vacation along with poor communication and a technology breakdown are being blamed for the slow response.  54 recommendations were made by the company for fixing the system.

The committee had promised a complete report on the breakdown and more ideas for improvement by the end of the month.  They now claim they may not be able to meet that deadline.