The following letter was sent by Del. Pat McDonough to the Maryland Public Service Commission. A copy was provided to The Dagger for publication:
Mr. Douglas R. M. Nazarian, Chairman
MD Public Service Commission
6 St. Paul Street, 16th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
Dear Commissioner Nazarian,
I have received numerous complaints about the lack of service provided by Constellation-BGE after the arrival of Hurricane Irene. During the past 10 years, Constellation-BGE has drastically reduced the number of skilled, experienced employees who specialize in system line inspection, tree trimming management, repair, and other pertinent skilled areas related to maintaining the system. This policy of a reduction in force in these key areas has been debated in the past and I know previous commissioners have expressed concern.
It is my belief that the short-sighted manpower reductions have resulted in Constellation-BGE not being “Storm Ready.” As a result, the consumers of this state, despite drastic increases in rates, are receiving drastic decreases in service. Historically, this skilled workforce that was part of the BGE consumer service policy had engaged in line inspections and tree trimming management/prevention which would reduce the amount of damage from storms because many problems had already been anticipated and corrected. Now, that smart policy only exists on a very limited basis.
An additional concern is the report that the company preparing to buy-out Constellation-BGE has made public its intention to, once again, engage in workforce reductions. This will compound the problem.
I, along with many other consumers, based on the volume of calls received, have concluded that Constellation-BGE is not “storm ready” and can not serve the people of the State of Maryland at the level required. Too many Marylanders, including the frail and elderly, are at risk and suffering dangerous consequences as a result of the mismanagement of the leadership at Constellation-BGE.
I am requesting the following from the Public Service Commission:
1. The PSC must conduct a public hearing and review the performance of Constellation-BGE regarding Hurricane Irene.
2. Appropriate professionals and experts must review the Constellation-BGE preparedness plans.
3. I need to receive statistical information about the number of employees who are in the skilled fields which I mentioned today as compared to 10 years ago. I will need a year-by-year analysis.
4. All hearings related to the buy-out of Constellation-BGE by Exelon must include an intense analysis of their proposed workforce reductions and the potential impact that those changes will have on consumer services.
Thank you for your consideration and cooperation in this matter. I anticipate an immediate response on these issues.
Sincerely,
Pat McDonough
bge ceo or other high ranking official “hmm i need a raise, i know fire 50 tree trimmers, that will pay for my raise.”
I’d love to know where this guy gets his info. He is so far off from reality it’s comical. There has been a man power increase in field utility personnel over the last several years. Tree trimming is scheduled. The problem isn’t a lack of personnel but the lack of cooperation from customers of BGE. Everyone wants more reliable service but will not allow for their trees to be trimmed.
Trees fall. Its inevitable. Unless every tree is removed within 100′ of every line outages will occur. There is no stopping it. Seems Del Mcdonough hasn’t thought much regarding this letter. Just another do nothing looking to make a name for themself.
The actual demands/recommendations are reasonable. Those sorts of reviews should be conducted by the company and the PSC after such a large event whether power restoration goes well or not.
But your last sentence is the most true. Virtually all of the published press releases from these people are under the guise of being informative, when really they are self promoting vote winning nonsense. Thus the modern connotation of the term “PR”.
How about you Noble, ready to identify yourself as one who prefers liberal dems over noisy fiscal conservatives? Can we also ID you as a liberal dem?
What the hell does that have to do with anything? There isn’t anything even remotely partisan in my comment. In fact, half of what I said actually agreed with McDonough.
I have had plenty of negative things to say about Milkulski or any one of these other elected officials who put out this worthless spin.
I resent your insinuation, your attempt to label me to suit your own ends, and the partisan attack.
How about you shut the hell up? I’m really sick of this crap. Nobody is allowed to say anything on this site without being attacked and labeled as something.
This isn’t about politics or choosing a side, it’s just courtesy and treating people with respect.
AAA, you would be better off being FFF. Just as I asked Elsie, do you prefer a tax and spend liberal in that spot? Are you OK with paying more taxes. I agree that there are more important things that the Delegate needs to focus on, for instance, illegal immigration, but the tax payers of this state deserve someone in Annapolis making noise rather than sitting back and doing nothing until reelection. Delegate McDonough make plenty of noise and the liberal democrats hate it.
Shall we identify you as a liberal dem?
I like what you posted under a different article:
“Why are “holes” cut in trees around power lines and the trees not cut down?
Because the same people who cry over lost electricity are the same ones who will not allow BGE to trim the trees or remove completely. Just because a tree is near a power line or tall enough to rip them down doesn’t give BGE the rights to clear a tree. The customer must allow for that work to be performed.”
No one seems to want to own up to the fact that they need to give up something in order to get something. That is a very selfish mentality.
Wait until you see what is in store for you when BGE is owned and operated by Excelon, a company located in Chicago. And, by the way, the job loss for this area will be a significant number of middle class jobs. Forget about all of that “net gain” nonsense. That’s just hype because there might be an immediate but very short term job gain because of building construction. Make them talk about how many Constellation/BGE jobs will go away. Finance, Legal, IT just for starters.
“No one seems to want to own up to the fact that they need to give up something in order to get something. That is a very selfish mentality.”
Bingo. Might as well keep that one on your clipboard for pasting into nearly every thread.
Again and again he displays why he is “out-of-it.” What I cannot understand is why do people keep voting for people like him and Marrian Barry, Shelia Dixon,etc.
Easy answer to tha one, FOGDOG. People vote for them because they believe the spiel. Then, when the goods aren’t delivered, the people believe the reasons the politicians give why their promises couldn’t be fulfilled. And the cycle continues. This is Maryland. That’s the way it has worked for a long time. No, I am not cynical. Just a realist.
It’s not a Maryland thing. It’s everywhere. The product of a disengaged, uninformed, unmotivated, and intentionally misguided electorate that responds only to being told what they want to hear.
Not much different from the people who voted for O’Malley and Obama. They believe in their spiel . . . samo ole, same ole.
It’s embarrassing that we have people like him representing us. Is it that hard to find someone with more intellect to replace him?!
We have you, Elsie. Why don’t you run? I am ready to believe you and many others would do a better job. Probably couldn’t do much worse. The rpoblem is when it comes time to vote the choices are pathetic for the most part.
Come on Elsie, you know you are not embarrassed by the Delegate’s actions on this. Admit it, you are a liberal democrat and hate the fact that Del. McDonough is a fiscal conservative Republican. Would you prefer a tax and spend liberal? Annapolis is full of them, why not have one more to solidify O’Malley’s plan for a tax hike. Are you one who benefits the most from tax and spend liberals? I bet you are.
I don’t agree with everyone of Delegate McDonough’s endeavors, for instance this one, but at least the tax paying citizens of this state have someone in Annapolis making noise and not sitting back and doing nothing. I agree that there is not much to this and the Delegate needs to focus on more important issues . . . let’s get back to this illegal immigration problem Maryland has. Illegal immigration cost tax payers more than a billion dollars a year. Let’s fix that problem first.
And again and again, you ares till lost in the fog.
As of this morning, the power has been restored to 602,229 customers. 146,675 customers are still without power. With storms that pack such a powerful punch as Irene, Isabel in 2003 and Floyd in 1999, it is unrealistic to expect BGE to restore power to the nearly 750,000 affected customers in the span of, for instance, 24 hours after the storm. That is why crews from other states are often called to come to Maryland to help in our storm recovery efforts, just as BGE workers are called to other states in the event that they have natural disasters. Is it frustrating to not have electricity for up to a week to ten days? Absolutely. For the most part, thankfully, Harford County customers usually have their power restored in a timely fashion.
On another note, the Delegate Who Cried “Wolf Without a Green Card!” aka Pat McDonough should not consider a re-election to the House of Delegates, let alone a run for Congress or the U.S. Senate. He should retire, move to Florida and become President of the senior home’s shuffleboard association … much to the chagrin of the senior home’s other residents.
Hey Tom,
I completely agree with your first paragraph. As for the second, you might want to be careful what you wish for. I am sure there are those out there that could run and would be far worse for those with your political viewpoints. Personally, I think I should be elected as I think I would piss off the two major political parties with my ConservativeLibertarianRepubliDemocratConstitutionGreen Agenda.
Anyways, have a nice day.
Paul
Thanks, Paul!
By the way, the current outage information can be found at http://www.bge.com/customerservice/stormsoutages/currentoutages/Pages/default.aspx
So Tom, when I run, do I have your vote?
Anyways, have a nice day.
Paul
If you run against McDonough, then absolutely. 🙂
Yet another profound statement from the one and only . . .
Quite the opposite. Not sure where you draw your conclusion from. You are taking the same angle as the delegate here. You are looking at small details and not the overall picture. What’s the point in making fuss over something such as this?
People were warned weeks in advance of the impending hurricane and the damage it would create. The people complaining to the PSC are the ones who didn’t take the earning to heart and are now caught with their pants down. You think McDouche was every without electricity? If he was I’m sure he made a phone call for himself. I’m still without electricity. I’m not complaining. I prepared. One day Darwin will take them all.
Thankfully, I only lost my power for 27+ hours. I DO sympathize with the folks that are still without power; the discomfort, inconvenience and economic loss must seem overwhelming. That being said, BG&E have expanded their force with numerous out-of-state teams and contract personnel to put 5000 people out there to try to fix the damage. Obviously, keeping all of these teams on the payroll year-round every year would be incredibly costly- if 1000 of those personnel are out-of-state or contract workers, having them on salary at 40K would be 40 million a year, not including benefits. Imagine the impact that would have on our already inflated BG&E bills! This is simply not feasible when these catastrophic weather events that cause outages like this only happen once every year or two. I know it stinks to not have power, and I know that everyone hates BG&E. But, while I am working my 8-hour day today, those BG&E workers will be working 12+ until the job is done, as they have been since the storm hit.
At this point, I would vote for Obama’s dog before I voted for McDonough!