The Mingo County Commission had tough questions for American Electric Power last week when representatives from the company attended a meeting to help clear up issues associated with power outages that followed heavy snows in December 2009.

The Commission had requested the meeting with AEP and the W.Va. Public Service Commission. AEP representatives included President and COO Dana Waldo; Vice President of External Affairs Mark Dempsey, Phil Wright, vice president of distribution; Jeri Matheney, director of corporate communications and Steve Stewart and Dave Langsford, both managers of external affairs.

Last year more than 233,000 West Virginia residents were without electricity for days following a massive snowstorm. Trees falling on power lines were to blame for most of the outages. Some officials feel the outages would have been prevented if the power company had performed better maintenance on its rights-of-way.

AEP President Dana Waldo called the storm a major event, the worst one he had seen during his career with the company. He said the December storm was unique

I"t was the quality of the snow, it was a very wet, heavy snow," Waldo said. "It made all the difference in the world."

He said his company has studied the storm, the damage done and AEP's response to that damage.

AEP had about 4000 problems during that storm, in Mingo County, there were approximately 219 interruptions, he said. Over half of our customers were out of power, beginning Saturday, Dec. 19. He said almost 400 power poles had to be replaced, along with 300 transformer,135 transformers and miles of wires.

Waldo said there were significant problems getting access due to fallen trees on highways. He explained that a lot of problems were caused by trees that were not on the company's right-of-way falling onto lines.

He said there were several reasons for the damage, including a wind storm on Dec. 8 that damaged trees, which made them weaker to the weight of the snow that fell, which was a very wet snow.

He said the power company builds its systems to adhere to industry standards, but that the weight and amount of snow was much more that facilities built to those standards could withstand.

He explained that when AEP began receiving extra people to help with the outages, there were logistical complications, including finding places for the workers to sleep. Waldo said there were 4,500 employees working on the event, 3,500 more than usual. Emergency Services in Logan county housed some 750 employees at Logan High School, and the crews were fed at Logan Middle School.

"Roads were treacherous, there were no rooms," he said.

He said that even after crews had a chance to assess damage and bring in supplies and equipment, sometimes copper thieves would have stolen the down lines, further complicating an already difficult situation.

Commissioner Greg Hootie Smith thanked AEP for coming to the meeting.

I have a couple of issues I am critical on, Smith said. I commend your employees, as well as you bringing in out of state workers.

Smith said he estimated at least 90 percent of the county was without power during the outage.

"Our people were hurting, and we didn't have shelters. We had to work with people from Pike County and send out people over to Belfry to stay warm," Smith said.

Smith said that while he understood that some of the trees that fell were not in the power companys right-of-way, but that he felt AEP could do a much better job at maintaining their right-of-ways. He said on Beech Creek and Ben Creek in particular there were places where it looked like a bomb went off where trees in the right-of-way caused damage.

I would recommend AEP put a much stronger emphasis on clearing their right-of-way, Smith said.

Another concern he addressed was the lack of a local contact person in the county.

When we are out taking care of people, they would ask us what news we had for them, Smith told the power company. We couldnt tell them anything, we had no direct contact to get information. We need someone our Emergency Services can call and get information. I urge you to get a person for direct contact so we dont have to talk to an answering machine.

Smith said in some instances there were people such as contractors that were volunteering their time to help restore power to the community, but that the state Emergency Services told the MCC that those people could not work on the power lines without a representative from AEP present.

"We couldn't get a representative to come and oversee that," Smith said.

Waldo said the company would make sure to have a contact with the Commission as well as Mingo Emergency Services.

Commissioner Smith also addressed the jump in electric bills that county citizens have seen.

I would have thought, since people went half a month without power, their bill would be substantially lower, Smith said. But then their bill was almost double. I ask AEP to be a good citizens and make adjustments for people who were out of power.

AEP representatives said although a rate increase had been approved by the Public Service Commission in October 2009, the colder weather also contributed to the higher electric bills.

This along with the increase in the price of coal, he said.

Waldo said as coal prices drop, it will be reflected on customer's bills.

He explained that the readings on customers meters would show how much power was actually, and they will eventually have bills that reflect the actual amount of electricity used. He also suggested customers take advantage of the equal payment plan offered by AEP.

Commission President John Mark Hubbard told the group that all they were asking was everyone work together.

"When this occurs again - and it will, we need a better way to communicate as things are getting back to normal," Hubbard said.