WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — Despite bitter cold temperatures, West Penn Power is going ahead with its planned outage Tuesday night that will affect 1,400 customers in Charleroi and Monongahela.
The power outage is expected to take place from 11: 30 p.m. Tuesday to 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.
West Penn Power said the outage is absolutely necessary to fix a broken switch. However, customers told Channel 11 that they were warned a week ago, giving the company plenty of time to fix it before Tuesday.
“It was an automated call from West Penn Power, saying they were going to shut off the power for scheduled routine maintenance,” said Monongahela resident April Roberts. “No electricity in sub-freezing temperatures? I can't believe they are still doing it.”
West Penn Power officials told Channel 11 they found a bad connecter at a substation in Charleroi, and said that if they don’t do the work now, they risk having a bigger power outage.
Officials said they planned to outage for the overnight hours because the time frame worked best for Mon Valley Hospital.
A spokesperson said the hospital asked to reschedule, saying 11 p.m. would have affected patients the least, but it was too late.
Meanwhile, Roberts said she has taken to social media to try to warn neighbors, asking them to alert the elderly in the community.
She said her biggest fear is that anyone without a land line didn’t receive that phone call, and will be caught off guard when the power goes out.
WPXI
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