NE Phila. block fed up with 7th power outage in 2 months

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA - August 2, 2013 (WPVI) -- Hundreds of local PECO customers are furious after their homes lost power for the 7th time in less than two months.

PECO trucks servicing the 3500 block of Chalfont Drive in Northeast Philadelphia have provided little comfort to residents.

Neighbors say they've had two outages this week along and they are beyond frustrated.

"You get no response on the phone, no one says anything, it comes back on when it comes back on," said Cindy Bailer.

PECO officials say a bad power line below the street could be to blame.

Neighbors say Monday night's outage lasted 17 1/2 hours. Friday's outage started at 10:30 a.m. and was out all day.

For some residents, their groceries have gone bad and they claim hundreds of dollars have been wasted.

"I had to throw food out yesterday. Who's gonna pay for that, I don't have the money," said Rita Curran.

PECO says it's still investigating the problem and devising a plan of attack. The street will likely have to be ripped up and the work may be extensive.

"It also requires permits from the city and departments before we can do it so it could be several months before we can begin the work," said Ben Armstrong, PECO.

That's bad news for a group of people already fed up in frustration and for those who rely on power to alleviate health issues.

Meanwhile, PECO is asking the 300 plus customers affected to please be patient.

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philadelphia, northeast philadelphia, power outage, local/state, jennifer joyce

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