How Is ComEd Doing In Darien?

DARIEN, IL — ComEd has made a lot of progress over the last 15 years in improving its local system to avoid power outages, city officials said this week.

Back then, a ComEd substation sustained damage in a fire that left much of Darien without power for five days. The city sued.

"What was frustrating back then is obviously we were having a lot of problems. There was no plan for ComEd to come into Darien for improvements they were going to do," City Administrator Bryon Vana said at Monday's City Council meeting. "ComEd does a much better job for us now about what they're going to do."

Vana and other officials spoke after a report by ComEd's Phil Halliburton, who reported on the utility's activities in Darien.

Since 2012, ComEd has added 42 devices that limit the duration and extent of outages, Halliburton said. It plans to add four more this year.

The most recent major outage in Darien was the night of March 10, affecting 1,400 ComEd customers. That happened when a tree fell on ComEd's equipment along Manning Road, between Fairview Avenue and Queens Court, officials said.

Alderwoman Mary Sullivan, whose Ward 5 has seen many outages, asked Halliburton whether trees that need trimming have been the sole cause of outages in her area. Many of the 86 customers who suffer frequent outages in Ward 5 think there may be other reasons, she said.

Halliburton said ComEd has identified the problem as being in a heavily wooded area, where the feed goes from overhead to underground. Three different teams have checked the area and have found no issues with the equipment, he said.

"Does that mean there might not be something (with the equipment)? I can't say 100 percent that it's not," he said. "But from what our folks saw and inspected, we didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

The utility has moved tree trimming in the Ward 5 neighborhoods ahead of schedule to reduce outages, Halliburton said.

Mayor Joseph Marchese said some people have a misguided belief that outages would disappear if ComEd buried all lines. But he said problems can occur with both overhead and underground systems.

Halliburton agreed. Underground equipment, he said, can be vulnerable to burrowing critters seeking warmth in the winter.

The mayor also said the utility has done significant work since 2005 to improve the system.

"I want residents to understand that when an outage occurs, it's not necessarily a fault on ComEd's part," Marchese said. "Sometimes it's the wind blowing down that tree on the lines."

ComEd's problem areas in Darien have been the Brookridge Creek and Carriage Way West neighborhoods, officials said.