As far as I am aware, no one? Very few people? have ever successfully claimed reimbursement from Commonweath Edison for damages (spoiled food, etc.) from a power outage caused by storms. Artie is wondering if that has changed given some 2013 articles such as this NBC Chicago report stating that ComEd could be held liable for some damages from a 2011 storm.
In a two-year legal battle that followed six torrential storms in 2011 and left hundreds of thousands of ComEd’s customers without power for hours and sometimes days, the ruling would force ComEd to reimburse consumers for spoiled groceries and local governments for municipal costs.
Public law states that in the event that more than 30,000 customers experience an outage for four or more hours, the utility company is responsible for compensation to affected consumers and local municipalities. Companies are exempt when unpreventable weather conditions cause damage, however.
ComEd argued that the outages were due to unpredictable weather and the company was cleared for five out of six storms alleged in the case. The ICC said ComEd was not liable for outages caused by broken tree limbs, lightning and other weather-related issues, but that many of the outages experienced in the severe weather on July 11, 2011, were as a result of company failures such as lack of maintenance.
The ComEd claim form can be found here. It does state that damages from storms, etc., will not be reimbursed except possibly in certain special circumstances outlined on the form.
Bertel Jackson
Saturday 13th of January 2024
My wife and I had just went grocery shopping after spending 275.00 dollars it comes down to this loses food know I didn't see this or I. Wouldn't have gone
Dorothy Hobson
Tuesday 28th of February 2023
I would like to know how some people claim they get reimburse for for the foods that they lost but my family and me nothing we do it all right the receipts even pictures of the spoil foods NOTHING but some people get reimburse tell me how tjhe do it????
Connie
Thursday 13th of August 2020
I am currently on day 4 of a power outage in Will County Il, hoping to find some good news here. Since the pandemic, we have been shopping heavy so we could make less frequent trips to the store, we managed to get a majority of our deep freezer items to friends houses, but still lost a significant amount from our refrigerator and it’s freezer. I have the update from ComeEd stating its an “equipment problem”. Not that it’s storm related, and I’m sure it’s semantics... but I’m going to file a claim regardless. Where we are, I’m in a two mile radius from downtown Joliet, we have surges all of the time and lose power for an hour or so about every time it storms, but it has never been this long in the 20 years we’ve been here. I do appreciate the ComEd workers and their efforts, and I am grateful to still have a roof over my head and hot water, however, with the current scandal surrounding Comed and Mike Madigan, I might as well send in my claim form with my digital receipts. 🤷♀️
Julie
Sunday 6th of July 2014
We lost power a couple of summers ago and it wasn't due to the weather. It was a perfectly hot, sunny day. And, it was only part of my sub-division. The people across the street from us had power, but about 1/3 of our sub-division did not. It was due to faulty underground cables. Their on-line 'power out' grid indicated very few outages. Called Com Ed, they said someone was sent out. We actually saw the guy going from backyard box to backyard box, but then never saw him again. Still no power. Called Com Ed again and waited. Finally when some guy came out, he said the first guy was not a regular Com Ed guy and basically didn't know what he was doing and left. This guy finally fixed it, but it took many, many hours. We tried several times to make a claim...wasn't storm related. We contacted supervisors, etc., but got no where. They make it impossible to make any sort of claim.
Jane
Saturday 5th of July 2014
This is another reason hoarding food is not a good idea. All those deals- defrosted muck doing no one good. I often hear of back up freezers going and folks losing their stockpiles, that happens without a storm.
julie
Saturday 5th of July 2014
It all depends on your needs. With 4 growing children, we would pay much more for staple items like meat, and convenience items like frozen pizza if we didn't stockpile in our deep freeze. We have a backup generator for when the power goes out and if the freezer dies on us, oh well. But any food loss would be more than accounted for by the savings by stockpiling versus buying these items only when we need them.
Also, remember a deep freeze will keep things frozen for another 30-40 hours after the power goes out or if the freezer dies, as long as you leave it closed. As long as you check on it everyday to see if it is running, you should be fine if/when the freezer dies. You will have at least a 24 hour window to obtain obtain a new freezer and/or eat and move what you can.