I am on the east side and my electricity is not ever fixed quickly. I have been out as long as 5 days. Last time it was 20 hrs.

Seriously tkb? hospitals and nursing homes have state mandated backup generators. ComEd doesnt go near them. That was moot point. As for the circuit thats been out longer is the first to be worked on, we know thats crap. I had to call 4 times before they came out. Guess what? ComEd said the "forgot" to send the crew. When I complained about the power outages the west side have (especially on my block) that happen anytime we get a strong breeze, the person at ComEd hung up on me. Nice. I for one am getting pretty fed up with the Rockford powers that be's attitude towards the west side. If its not on thei east side of the river, its ok to ignore it. We dont have a lot of money over here but this is where we have to live. My power was off for 3 days last month (the really bad storm that flattened crops) and this last storm the power was out for over a day. ComEd KNEW within seconds the power was out here. They dont follow whatever guidelines you stated. And one must conclude that you are an east sider. Your arrogant attitude tells on you. If the mayor was on this side of the river you KNOW the power would be on in less than 20 minutes. That is gospel truth.

West side here also.This last time the power went out at 9 pm, when I called for the 3rd time at 6am I was told as soon as they investigated it, they would give us an estimated time. So 9 hours later, they had not even sent a crew out. I called again at 9am and was told they had someone out at 7 am. Seems to me they just didn't want to pay overtime for a night crew,

Kim,
Let's address these issues in the order you raised them.

Hospitals/nursing homes with generators: Damaged circuits feeding public safety, health, and sewer and water facilities have priority in repairs since the generators at these sites are only installed to provide emergency backup power until utility power is restored. Some facilities have generators that only provide emergency lighting, and not all sewer lift stations have generators at all. Your statement that ComEd does not go near these generators is correct since these are installed after the metering point and their maintenance is the responsibility of the generator owner.

Order of circuits to be repaired: Note that I stated the circuits with the largest number of people are addressed first, and if there's then a tie between the number of customers on two circuits, then the circuit that's been out longer will take priority over the shorter outage.

Had to call 4 times: Keep calling in until your power is restored. ComEd has no way of determining if any particular customer is out of service unless an entire circuit is off. If your neighbors have been restored but your lights are still off, call in again.

The person at ComEd hung up on me: Were you calling to complain about generalizations or did you have specific information to provide about a specific outage, a specific tree that keeps hitting wires, or about wires down in a specific location that the person at the other end of the phone could act upon? If you're calling to just complain about generalizations that give the other person nothing specific to act upon, you're wasting their time.

Every time I've called in an outage and talked to someone, the person I spoke to gave me their name when they answered the call. Did you write down the name of the person that spoke with you? If this happens again, call in again and escalate the incident to a supervisor. Be prepared to give them specifics about what you were calling about and the name of the person who originally answered your call. Think about how you would discipline someone if you weren't given the name of the person who hung up on a customer or what the discussion was about.

"Rockford powers that be" attitude toward west side: Outages in the Rockford area are grouped into three geographic areas in Winnebago County: West is everything west of Meridian Road into Stephenson County, North is north of Riverside to the state line, and South is south of Riverside to Ogle County. This means that outages in Rockford on the west side of the Rock River are bundled together with those on the east side of the river. Once the public safety and health related outages are taken dispatched, outage tickets are addressed in order of the highest number of customers affected, with ties then settled by increased outage duration

One more thing - Daily dispatching operations for all of ComEd were consolidated from regional offices in Rockford, Joliet, Libertyville, and Chicago into a separate office in Joliet in 1997. The dispatchers that formerly worked in the Rockford office are no longer dispatching due to retirements and job transfers in the 14 years since that move. The people that have taken their place live in the Joliet area and the south & southwest suburbs. Since they aren't familiar with the area, the only way they can dispatch crews is to address public safety and health circuits first, followed by the circuits that will restore the largest number of people at a time.

If your power was out for three days after the July 11 storm, consider that some people were out for six and seven days. Sometimes there's just so much damage that repairs take that long.

I like the fact that the jails, police and fire stations, and hospitals and nursing homes are given priority, followed by the biggest outages. If you're not happy with this, what restoration order priority would you assign? Don't complain unless you can offer a better solution that will improve the situation for everyone, regardless of their location anywhere in northern Illinois. .

No, I don't live in Rockford, and yes, I have experienced multiple day outages.

Seriously. That's why I have a portable generator for my sump pump and refrigerator/freezer. I refuse to be a victim.

nice to know you feel superior enough from your lofty position out of town to pass judgement on those who actually experience the problems. Yes I COULD get a generator, but how am I to pay for that? I have been told by CoEd that if I did get the generator, that knocks my area further down the repair list. We are already so far down that this would completely dismiss our concerns. I have taken names when I have called. Guess what? When I talk to supervisors, they claim there is no one there by that name.
Yes the hospitals and such should come first, but they can handle their own power outages much easier than the rest of us. So before you start slamming mee, I strongly suggest you move back here, TRY to find a non existant job, live in one of the areas always affected then and only then you can preach to me. Live my life before you condem me.

Kim,
It appears that you're making assumptions. I have worked in Rockford and the surrounding area for almost 20 years and live just outside the Rockford city limits. My power has been out several times for multiple days due to severe storms, and for one to two hours several times as a result of storms or car/truck vs. pole accidents I've seen in the neighborhood. As a result, I purchased a small portable generator so I can run a refrigerator, sump pump, or freezer as needed since I'm not going to sit around and watch my basement flood or my freezer contents melt while waiting for the lights to come back on. It's not big enough to run an air conditioner, but it will protect my property.

If you can't afford a generator on your own, have you thought about getting together with your neighbors and get a portable generator that you can share? You don't have to run your refrigerator on generator continuously, just long enough to get it cold and then let your neighbor use it to keep theirs cold. If this isn't an option for you, think about purchasing bags of ice at the gas station to keep your refrigerator cold.

Your account records should have a log with the name of the person that accessed your account when you called in. The customer service supervisor should have access to the logs and be able to determine who you spoke with. If you talk to a supervisor and they can't find the name of the person you gave them, ask them who appears in your account log at the time you called in.

If you feel that your neighborhood is being discriminated against in service restoration times, escalate the complaint to the Illinois Commerce Commission with specifics on outage dates, outage duration, your name and location, and the people you've spoken with at ComEd. Generalizations like you've given here won't be sufficient - you need to provide complete details like "I live at ___________ and my power was off from x:00 am on July xx and stayed off for XX days, then went off again on July xx at zz:30 pm and stayed off until July yy at zz:00 pm. I spoke with __________ at ComEd on _______ at ______and they told me ___________..."

The more details and specifics you give, the better. If you make a complaint and offer nothing specific that can be tracked or acted upon, do you think that your complaint will be taken seriously?

Seems to me, TKB's gotten good information. :) Thanks for sharing it!