South Union supervisors say problems must be addressed
South Union Township supervisors said they are looking to ways to help fix ongoing problems residents are having with electric service and the cable company.
At Wednesday’s meeting, supervisors Robert Schiffbauer, Tom Frankhouser and Rick Vernon said the township previously asked West Penn Power to investigate what is causing numerous short power outages throughout the township.
Schiffbauer said the power outages last about five seconds and are not weather related, occurring multiple times a week.
“We’re talking two, three, four or five times a week, or even more often,” Schiffbauer said, noting that the frequent outages increase the risk of damaged electrical equipment and appliances.
“Unfortunately I think it’s something a lot of us have learned to put up with, but we shouldn’t have to,” he said.
Schiffbauer said West Penn Power agreed to bring in monitoring devices to try and identify the problem and eliminate it, however, he said the matter has not been resolved.
The township is considering reporting the problem to the Public Utilities Commission if it is not resolved, he said.
Frankhouser said some of the problem may be associated with moisture getting into the underground electric wires in many parts of the township.
As for problems with Atlantic Broadband, supervisors said they are displeased with the quality of service being offered by the cable television provider.
Supervisors said they have fielded upwards of 200 calls from residents complaining about interrupted cable service since January when the company switched to digital cable and provided customers with digital converter boxes.
The township is locked into a franchise agreement with Atlantic Broadband, and Schiffbauer said the contract is in effect for several more years.
However, Schiffbauer said the agreement states that the cable company must maintain a certain quality of service and that the township believes that level of service is not being met.
The township is consulting with Cohen Law Group of Pittsburgh, which specializes in issues like franchise agreements, to see if action can be taken.
Supervisors said the township will be sending out a survey to residents asking them to detail problems with both their cable service and electrical service.
Cohen Law Group will help the township create the survey, Frankhouser said.