ARE POWER COMPANIES IGNORING THE LAWS?

ARE POWER COMPANIES IGNORING THE LAWS? To my surprise, I received a formal reply from the DOE in response to my column about requiring power companies to issue advanced notices to households that have very sick persons or persons with disabilities (PWDs) in case of planned power interruptions, so that they could make the necessary preparations. I am surprised not because I feel important, but because it is not very common for government agencies to take the trouble of formally responding to ordinary citizens. To cut a long story short, the DOE said that there is no need to issue new orders, because the power companies are already required by existing rules and regulations to do precisely that, to inform very sick persons or PWDs in advance, in case of planned power interruptions. There is therefore no question about whether or not there are existing rules and regulations. There is however a question of whether or not the power companies are actually doing it. The DOE said that although the power companies are required to provide advanced notices to very sick persons or PWDs in their homes, they are not required to notify the hospitals. That appears to have been forgotten by whoever issued those rules and regulations. The good news is, some power companies are informing the hospitals on their own. What can we do to fully implement these rules and regulations? Perhaps we can require all the power companies to have mandatory compliance officers? IKE SENERES/09088877282/03-18-2024