At least one major customer of Detroit's Public
Lighting Department is looking for alternative
energy suppliers, but a state law could stop any
customer who wants to leave the troubled public
utility.

. . .

On June 13, a four-day citywide power outage --
the worst in the department's history -- knocked
out power to all its customers. The outage was
caused after Public Lighting officials failed to
follow their written procedures to systematically
shut off power to avoid an overload and collapse,
an investigation by The Detroit News disclosed.

Aug. 31, a partial outage knocked out power to
schools, police stations, libraries, street and
traffic lights on the west side and large portions
of the east side. As recently as Sept. 28, two
Public Lighting workers accidentally caused an
electrical explosion in the basement of the Main
Public Library on Woodward. The explosion shut
down power to the library and the Detroit Institute
of Art for two days.

. . .

Wayne County Community College is also not looking
for a new energy supplier, but it is purchasing new
generators in the event of further blackouts,
according to spokesman David Butty.

Detroit News

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), October 16, 2000