Feeling powerless over outages

"It's been brought to our attention," isn't much of a response from Duke Energy about the frequent power outages plaguing Clermont County's Miami Township.

As the dozens of comments on the message board the Enquirer put up Thursday attest, the power company seems to be giving out almost as many reasons for the outages as there are complaints. Readers report being told the frequent outages are caused by weather, traffic accidents, road construction, aging equipment etc. Most galling of all for people who have reverted to windup alarm clocks, are the responses that things are no worse in Miami Township than anywhere else. Tell that to someone like Cindy Dragoo, whose dialysis machine goes off when the power shuts down.

The area reportedly is scheduled for some equipment upgrades in 2008. That's too long to wait. When customers start saying things like electrical service is more dependable in Baghdad than Miami Township, the public utility company needs to generate a little more concern.