By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Recent power outages due to failures at the Swanton substation have led to a series of communications with FirstEnergy Corp., as well as discussions at the Swanton Village Council.
Village Administrator Shannon Shulters initially emailed a representative from FirstEnergy (the parent company of Toledo Edison) on January 5 to say the ongoing outages were unacceptable.
“The recent substation failure, followed by the failure of the mobile substation brought in to restore service, has caused significant disruption throughout the Village,” she wrote.
She later added, “The frequency and severity of these outages have placed an unnecessary strain on Village operations, critical infrastructure, and the residents and businesses we serve.”
Shulters wrote that the outages resulted in lost revenue for affected businesses, failures and operational issues related to generators at the water and wastewater treatment plants, and affected the function of the traffic signal at Main Street and Garfield Street, creating public safety concerns.
She requested clear answers on the plan to stabilize services, a list of any corrective actions being taken to prevent further outages, and whether there are any known infrastructure issues requiring immediate attention or long-term planning.
“The Village expects accountability and a plan moving forward to ensure this level of disruption does not continue,” she wrote.
On Wednesday, January 7, Shulters reached out again. She said immediate answers were needed, and waiting until that Friday was unacceptable due to the hardship being caused.
“In addition, my office is receiving a high volume of complaints and phone calls from residents reporting damaged household appliances due to these ongoing power disruptions.
“Many are also experiencing daily power dimming and flickering, which continues to raise serious safety and reliability concerns,” she wrote.
Shulters also shared an email she had received from Dane Corser, plant manager for Scottdel Cushion, Inc. He reported their manufacturing plants had been experiencing power fluctuations.
“We have damaged some equipment and have delayed some production,” Corser wrote.
He wrote that Toledo Edison came in and tested the power and said there was a variance, but it was within limits, and that “the original issue, from months ago, has not been resolved.”
Shulters also wrote that she had been speaking about the issue with the media.
“At this point, something needs to be done now. Our residents and businesses deserve clear answers and immediate corrective action,” she wrote, adding that she expected “a prompt response with concrete information.”
Swanton Sports Center co-owner Bill O’Connell spoke at the most recent meeting of the Swanton Village Council about how his business had been affected.
“We are basically a seasonal business, and it hit us at a really bad time – the biggest night in the middle of our biggest season,” O’Connell said of the outages, adding, “more than once, we’ve had to replace hard drives after a power outage.”
The issue was also raised during the general interest portion of the council meeting by Councilman Noah Kreuz, who asked Shulters about the status of the village’s power service.
Shulters said the regional liaison told her he has had several meetings with upper management, including with the president of FirstEnergy, the afternoon after receiving her second email.
She said they proactively called her after the power outage caused by a wind-downed tree several days ago to let her know they were aware it had happened. “So they definitely have Swanton more on their radar,” she said.
She said after the original transformer failed in October, some of Swanton’s power service was offloaded to other substations, including one in Whitehouse, which led to another power outage in December in the southern half of the village after a squirrel got into and blew a transformer at that location.
After Toledo Edison moved everyone back to Swanton using a mobile substation that FirstEnergy was borrowing from a sister company, Shulters said, the mobile substation failed, leading to another outage.
She said the original failed transformer had now been replaced, with inspection and activation expected to occur the following day.
She said, despite the repair, residents shouldn’t be celebrating yet. “If one transformer – I’m not even sure how many transformers are actually at that substation – but if that one failed, what’s going to prevent it being a domino effect and we have more transformers failing and continuing to have this problem,” she said.
Shulters is currently awaiting a timeline from FirstEnergy on when additional upgrades will occur. “Apparently, FirstEnergy is investing in the Toledo area to update several substations within this area.
Swanton would be one of them in the next five years, I just don’t know where we fall on that,” she said.
In the meantime, she said residents should be calling Toledo Edison with issues and complaints, but that she is also forwarding on everything she receives from community members.
Councilman John Schmidt asked why Swanton was being treated like a second-class citizen and said a representative from the utility should attend a council meeting to address and inform the Swanton community on the record.
Shulters said the regional liaison has said he is willing to do that once he has all the information available.
She added that it would have been better customer service if a representative had been communicating with users in the community as soon as the initial incident happened.
Kreuz also asked about whether the village could obtain battery backups for the traffic signals on Airport Highway, which Shulters said had been in process since well before the substation failed.
In addition to the outage issue already affecting Swanton, FirstEnergy has requested that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio alter its reliability metrics to authorize longer time frames to restore outages and for outages to occur more often.
On January 13, Shulters issued a statement on behalf of the village formally opposing the change. “The company has cited challenges such as weather impacts and aging infrastructure as justification for this request,” Shulters wrote.
“While utilities may face operational pressures, the Village of Swanton and its residents cannot accept weaker reliability expectations – especially given what we have endured over the past several months.”
She laid out the impact of recent outages on village infrastructure, local businesses, and residents before stating the position of the village opposing FirstEnergy’s request.
She wrote that the village is calling on the commission to reject this and any similar proposals, require FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries explain the root causes of Swanton’s outages, prioritize infrastructure improvements and investments to increase resiliency in the grid, and “engage directly with affected communities before advancing changes to utility reliability obligations.”
“The Village of Swanton stands with its residents and business owners in demanding dependable and safe electric service.
“While we recognize the operational challenges utilities may face, community health, safety, and economic stability must remain the paramount consideration in any regulatory decision.
“Any plan that effectively lowers the bar for reliability not only undermines public trust but places our citizens at risk – a result we cannot accept,” Shulters wrote.