BAY VILLAGE, Ohio – Animal incursions, deteriorating underground wiring, and damage to power lines from trees are the reasons one Bay Village neighborhood has experienced frequent power outages, according to FirstEnergy.
Mayor Paul Koomar and Public Services and Properties Director Mary Kay Costello organized an Oct. 7 meeting between FirstEnergy representatives and residents of a neighborhood bordered by Lincoln Road to the North to the city of Westlake to the South, and from Dwight Drive to the east to Lindford Drive to the west.
Approximately 55 residents attended the meeting, with many expressing frustration about frequent power outages. Some residents complained about repeatedly discarding food from refrigerators or feeling they needed to invest in emergency or whole-house generators.
FirstEnergy officials opened the meeting by acknowledging that the west side neighborhood has experienced frequent outages.
“We were able to identify 18 different outages that have affected you over the past 24 months,” Niketas Katsaros, a FirstEnergy local engagement specialist, said.
The utility identified causes for those outages, he said. Eight were due to the underground infrastructure in the area. Four were due to animal contacts. Five were due to various tree-related outages. And one outage resulted from a tornado last year.
Not all of the outages affected everyone in the neighborhood.
The utility determined the outages were “localized reliability issues, not system-wide failures,” Katsaros said.
One of the corrective steps FirstEnergy plans is replacing sections of the underground cable in 2026.
“Basically, the underground cable in the area does degrade over time due to moisture, insulator breakdown, and thermal stress,” Katsaros said.
The existing cable was installed underground when homes in the area were built in the mid- to late-1960s. Only a portion of the cable, identified as failing, will be replaced next year, he said.
In addition, animals – possibly squirrels, raccoons or birds – have been accessing and damaging FirstEnergy equipment in an area near Dwight and Lincoln. The incursions were traced to a single above-ground pole that feeds the neighborhood’s underground infrastructure. FirstEnergy plans to rebuild and upgrade the pole by replacing the equipment with modern technology that includes “animal guarding” to limit conflicts and protect infrastructure. FirstEnergy plans to complete that work by the end of the year.
Katsaros and Costello urged residents to notify FirstEnergy whenever there is a power outage to ensure the utility is aware of the problem. Notifications can be delivered through the utility’s website (firstenergycorp.com), by texting 544487, or by calling 1-888-LIGHTSS (544-4877), Katsaros said.
One member of the audience questioned why the utility relies on residents to report outages.
“We’re in the 21st century,” the audience member said.
FirstEnergy plans to install smart meters throughout its service system by 2027, which could help identify outages. However, even once those meters are installed, the utility will recommend that customers report outages, Katsaros said.
Some residents asked why FirstEnergy failed to identify and correct the problems earlier.
“I can tell you that you guys are a priority going into 2026 to make sure that you are addressed,” said David Turner, FirstEnergy’s local engagement director.
FirstEnergy will also check for problems with the above-ground electric lines leading from a substation in Westlake to Bay Village, said Dan Knupp, FirstEnergy manager of engineering services.
Mayor Koomar said he would work with FirstEnergy to send a follow-up letter to residents outlining the utility’s plans for improving service reliability to the neighborhood.
Meanwhile, the city and FirstEnergy plan to hold a second meeting for all city residents at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20 before a City Council meeting. That meeting will deal with issues affecting electric service reliability throughout the city.