{"id":80150,"date":"2026-01-07T11:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T11:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/80150\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T11:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T11:47:13","slug":"commission-issues-report-on-utilities-response-to-april-2025-storm-in-western-pennsylvania-butler-eagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/80150\/","title":{"rendered":"Commission issues report on utilities\u2019 response to April 2025 storm in Western Pennsylvania \u2013 Butler Eagle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767786433_265_.jpeg\" alt=\"\" data-uuid=\"d2fff172-2a6d-5954-8d73-cea9140143ba\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Damage is seen on Hannahstown Road in the aftermath of severe thunderstorms in Butler County on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Morgan Phillips\/Butler Eagle<\/p>\n<p>\n                  Morgan Phillips\n              <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has released a final report on the actions of the region\u2019s electric companies in the wake of an unexpectedly dangerous thunderstorm that struck Western Pennsylvania, including Butler County, in April 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">According to the National Weather Service, winds approached speeds as high as 80 mph during the storm. At least four deaths were reported as a result of the storm, and hundreds of thousands of residents lost electric service, including at least 5,200 West Penn Power customers in Butler County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">The report contains 25 findings and 10 recommendations for the region\u2019s largest electricity providers, including FirstEnergy, the parent of West Penn Power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">In the report, both FirstEnergy and another provider, Duquesne Light Company \u2014 which services both Allegheny and Beaver counties \u2014 were noted for working effectively with local officials and emergency management during the crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">The report recommended 10 areas of improvement for the region\u2019s utility companies regarding their response to similar severe weather events in the future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">One recommendation was for local power companies to reestablish a \u201cstorm response best practice group,\u201d which, according to the report, has \u201cnot met in several years.\u201d This group would focus on establishing road closure procedures, restoration time estimation processes, prediction modeling and crew management.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">Another recommendation was for utility companies to periodically consult other companies from more storm-prone states, such as Florida, for their advice on storm response and restoration practices.<\/p>\n<p>Preparation, response cited<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">The report also found the preparation of both companies to the coming storm was \u201cadequate and in keeping with the decades of experience of staff that work, or worked, in emergency response and electric reliability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">FirstEnergy was noted for marshaling \u201csufficient\u201d linemen to assist in restoring electricity to its thousands of affected customers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.puc.pa.gov\/media\/3768\/25_tus_puc-april-2025-storm-report_final.pdf\" id=\"link-f8233530184db2789201f737523da90a\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">full text of the report<\/a> is available on the commission\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">\u201cThe dedication and service of all utility workers should be commended as they worked under very difficult circumstances responding to the April Storm,\u201d reads the report, which was conducted by the commission\u2019s Bureau of Technical Utility Services.<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767786433_654_.jpeg\" alt=\"\" data-uuid=\"0f3e8477-6e1c-500e-83ed-fe98da2d19c0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Armstrong employee Robert Waltenbaugh checks on power lines along Hannahstown Road in the aftermath of severe thunderstorms in Butler County on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Morgan Phillips\/Butler Eagle<\/p>\n<p>\n                  Morgan Phillips\n              <\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767786433_160_.jpeg\" alt=\"\" data-uuid=\"917336b4-9749-5710-9bd3-25e6e43d4350\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Armstrong employee Robert Waltenbaugh checks on power lines along Hannahstown Road in the aftermath of severe thunderstorms in Butler County on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Morgan Phillips\/Butler Eagle<\/p>\n<p>\n                  Morgan Phillips\n              <\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767786433_440_.jpeg\" alt=\"\" data-uuid=\"4d1a67b4-f49b-56bf-b314-0cbae0e2f5c0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Uprooted trees and downed power lines are seen along Fisher Road in Jefferson Township in the aftermath of severe thunderstorms in Butler County on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Morgan Phillips\/Butler Eagle<\/p>\n<p>\n                  Morgan Phillips\n              <\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767786433_642_.jpeg\" alt=\"\" data-uuid=\"ae1fd43d-accb-5fd0-bb01-b5f1522057e7\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Uprooted trees and downed power lines are seen along Fisher Road in Jefferson Township in the aftermath of severe thunderstorms in Butler County on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Morgan Phillips\/Butler Eagle<\/p>\n<p>\n                  Morgan Phillips\n              <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Damage is seen on Hannahstown Road in the aftermath of severe thunderstorms in Butler County on Wednesday, April&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3035,3027,3022,3042,3048,3051,1610,3030,3028,31,3029,3034,3025,3047,3041,3024,3045,3033,3023,3036,182,3049,3039,139,3026,28,30,29,3040,39,3031,3044,3043,3032,3050,3038,3037,3046],"class_list":["post-80150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bruin","tag-butler","tag-butler-eagle","tag-cabot","tag-callery","tag-cherry-valley","tag-community-news","tag-connoquenessing","tag-cranberry","tag-crime","tag-east-butler","tag-eau-claire","tag-education-news","tag-evans-city","tag-fairview","tag-government-news","tag-harmony","tag-harrisville","tag-high-school-sports-news","tag-karns-city","tag-local-news","tag-mars","tag-mount-chesnut","tag-news","tag-obituaries","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-petrolia","tag-political-news","tag-portersville","tag-sarver","tag-saxonburg","tag-slippery-rock","tag-valencia","tag-west-liberty","tag-west-sunbury","tag-zelienople"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}