Deerfield Files Class Action Lawsuit Against ComEd

Electric Circuits Among Worst in System

DEERFIELD, Ill., April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Village of Deerfield today
filed a class action lawsuit against Commonwealth Edison charging the utility
company with gross violation of its agreement to provide reliable service to
the 18,000 residents of the north suburban Chicago community. Deerfield
officials say that during the period from 2000 until 2007, the village
suffered 82,347 individual customer power outages during 1,377 separate
electrical failures. Only 13% of these outages were weather-related.
"After years of patience while listening to ComEd's unfulfilled promises
to fix these problems, we now turn to the courts to adjudicate our claims,"
said Steve Harris, Mayor of Deerfield. "ComEd has given us no other option
than to seek a legal remedy to their gross and willful dereliction of duty."
Just three months ago, the Chairman of Exelon, ComEd's parent company,
gloated over profits from the previous year when he was quoted as saying,
"Honest to God, I don't think any utility has ever had a better year."
Mayor Harris responded, "Exelon's comments are appalling in view of the
incredibly poor job that its utility subsidiary ComEd has done in fulfilling
its contractual obligations to the residents of my community. While the people
of Deerfield pay for spoiled food, generators and sump pumps and even
temporary housing again and again, Exelon pockets windfall profits. Their
commitment to fix our electric delivery system remains a dream."
Several residents have even been told by ComEd employees that the
infrastructure in the Deerfield area "absolutely needs to be updated."
Judith Adamson, a Deerfield resident for thirty years said, "ComEd tells
us that the problem is that our utilities are underground and connect to old
above ground poles and switch boxes and it would be too costly to revamp the
system."
The class action lawsuit filed in Lake County Circuit Court on Thursday
charges that ComEd violated the Illinois Public Utilities Act and their
franchise agreement with Deerfield and its residents by failing to provide
adequate and reliable electric service and failing to maintain infrastructure
necessary to provide that service. It calls for compensation for actual
damages as well as punitive damages for ComEd's willful refusal to repair and
maintain its electrical systems and circuits.
From 2000 to 2007, ComEd's own Franchise Reports confirm Deerfield
suffered 1,377 total outages that lasted 5,576 hours. The reports show only
13% were attributed to weather related causes. The Franchise Reports also
show that the total amount of outages have increased steadily during the last
three years. During this period, outages due to failure of ComEd's electric
underground equipment have risen dramatically.
ComEd's Annual Reliability Reports cite ten circuits that serve Deerfield
as appearing on their list of top 1% worst performing circuits in its
Northeast service area from 2001-2006. In addition, these reports show at
least one circuit serving Deerfield has been included as a top 1% worst
performing circuit for ComEd's Northeast service area in every year from 2001
to 2006. Moreover, the report proves there are other circuits serving
Deerfield that are performing even worse than those on ComEd's 1% worst
performing list, but they do not appear on that list.
In addition to ComEd's own reports, Deerfield residents have provided
further evidence that ComEd has had full knowledge of the inadequacy and
unreliability of its electric service in Deerfield and willfully, knowingly,
and wrongfully permitted the deterioration of its electrical facilities.
Others have been told by electricians that ComEd was not providing enough
amperage to their homes.
"I have been told by ComEd workers that the feeder to our area of the
Village is very old and worn out and that is one reason for the outages," said
Deerfield resident Richard Beaton.
Mayor Harris added, "With each outage, Deerfield and its residents and
business are damaged. Many within our community have been forced to spend
monies to replace and repair items damaged as a result of outages. In
addition, the Village has been required to allocate municipal resources during
each outage in order to help keep order and assist residents and businesses.
The costs associated with this are an enormous burden for Deerfield."
According to Section 5.1 of the Franchise Agreement, ComEd is required to
provide an adequate supply of electricity to Deerfield and its residents.
According to Section 5.5.1, ComEd has a duty to prevent interruptions in the
electric service it provides to Deerfield and its residents. And, under the
Public Utilities Act, ComEd has a duty to provide adequate, reliable, and
efficient electric service and facilities to its customers.
SOURCE Village of Deerfield

Gary Mack, Office, +1-630-357-7552, Cell, +1-312-961-2467, for Village of
Deerfield