Duke Energy crews are working and working hard.
Right now, the utility company has 1600 hundred line workers working 16 hour shifts in an effort to fix downed lines. Workers receive 8 hours off for rest between shifts.
Things will continue at this level until the restoration work is completed.
Who is going to pay for this restoration work and these extra costs? You the customer are going to pay for it and it's currenlty unknown what these costs is going to be.
According to PUCO (Ohio Public Utilities Commission), Duke Energy is able to recover the cost of this work in it's next rate case.
PUCO added that this is a recoverable expense and that the utility is able to recover storm expenses from rate payers in the past as a cost of doing business. This is a reality that has many Duke customers upset. Before any rate increase is passed onto the consumer, PUCO will conduct their own analysis to determine what's recoverable based on the company's needs and what is a fair rate of return.
Howard Ain spoke with the head of the Ohio Public Utilities Commision, Alan Schriber, who said that Duke already has several rate increase requests pending before the commission, so Schriber doesn't believe that Duke Energy will be asking for recoup costs for the restorationi work for quite some time.
