Update from FirstEnergy Regarding December 2024 and January 2025 Power Outages

In light of the string of power outages in the past month, the City of Lakewood reached out to FirstEnergy to gather details and advocate for a resolution to the problem. The statement we received from FirstEnergy can be read below:

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We understand being without power is difficult—especially in these frigid conditions. The outages in Lakewood were caused by an equipment issue within a local substation. Our crews have identified the precise issue, and they are replacing a breaker within the facility to help prevent related outages in the future. We appreciate our customers’ patience while our crews complete this work today to enhance service reliability in your community.

There were four outages that impacted customers in Lakewood on Dec. 10, Dec. 29, Jan. 4 and early this morning (Jan. 7) – primarily all due to an equipment issue we’ve identified within a local substation and are addressing today with the installation of a new breaker. These have been the only outages affecting this area since Aug. 6, when our region experienced a historic storm and outages.

• The outage on Dec. 29 was due to the wind and snow event across northeast Ohio and lasted about 7 minutes.
• The outage on Dec. 10 was due to an equipment issue within a local substation and lasted about 3 hours.
• The outage on Jan. 4 was due to an equipment issue within a local substation and lasted about 15 minutes.
• The outage early this morning lasted about 50 minutes and stemmed from the substation equipment issue we’ve identified.