The task force acknowledged that there cannot be a one size fits all solution to notifications across industries.
A state task force focused on how utility and cable outages are announced to the public released its final report last week.
Earlier this year the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) initiated the task force to standardize how customers are notified of utility and cable service outages. The task force reached out to service providers including Hope Gas, Inc., Morgantown Utility Board and Frontier West Virginia Inc. to explain how they notify their affected customers of service outages and what plans they have to expand, modify or improve their current notification systems.
Currently each utility and cable service provider has different procedures for notifying their customers of outages including e-mails, text messages, website, and/or social media posts.
In its final report published last week, the task force said “appropriate outage communications should be an essential part of any public utility or cable TV provider’s marketing and communications,” but also acknowledged that there cannot be a one size fits all solution to notification among the different public utility and cable TV industries.
The task force recommended that each utility be directed to develop, maintain, and submit its own outage notification plan to the commission. Recommended best practices for the outage notification plans include maintaining and updating contact information for customers and sharing outage information on multiple platforms with an emphasis on social media.
The West Virginia Public Service Commission initiated a task force on utility and cable outages Wednesday.
The move follows an order issued April 8 by the commission to 14 regulated state utilities and cable providers to explain how they notify customers of service outages and what plans they have to improve notification systems.
The order creating the task force acknowledges all of the named utilities responded with the requested information within three weeks. However, the commission learned that each utility and cable service provider has differing practices and procedures for notifying their customers of outages such as door hangers, telephone calls, e-mails, text messages, website, and/or social media posts.
The task force will work to recommend best practices and universal procedures for notifying customers of utility and cable service outages.
Commission staff will lead the task force and utilities originally named will be required to participate. The task force must hold its first meeting by June 14 and must make its final recommendations to the commission within 60 days.
The gas outage, which began last Friday, was caused by a water main rupture on Charleston’s West Side, flooding the area’s gas lines with water.
Mountaineer Gas personnel had restored service to 260 customers by Thursday, according to Mayor Amy Goodwin, including an elementary school and a community center.
Justice, in his regular media briefing, said he wanted the state Public Service Commission (PSC), which regulates utilities, to look at what happened.
“And that’s why I’ve asked the PSC to launch a full-fledged investigation in regard to this entire matter,” he said Thursday.
Kanawha County Schools Superintendent Tom Williams said meal boxes would be provided to affected students and their families on Friday, enough to get them through the weekend, with more meals coming to them on Tuesday.
A state of emergency has been declared in West Virginia’s state capital due to a gas outage that has left more than 1,000 families without heat, hot water or working stoves.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
A state of emergency has been declared in West Virginia’s state capital due to a natural gas outage that has left more than 1,000 families without heat, hot water or working stoves.
Gov. Jim Justice announced the National Guard has been activated to assist in providing resources to Charleston’s West Side neighborhoods.
Residents of the affected area are predominantly people of color living in a lower-income community.
The outage may have originated from a burst water pipe late last week, according to officials, that flooded the gas lines. The state’s Public Service Commission is investigating the cause.
Mountaineer Gas Company said a high-pressure water main break infiltrated the gas distribution system in that area on Nov. 10, 2023. The company reported that it has made progress on removing water from its 46 miles of natural gas lines in the West Side. Full restoration of natural gas services is anticipated within the next seven days, according to a release.
“I have spoken with the vice president of Mountaineer Gas, and we’re closely following their progress in restoring service to families,” Justice said. “From what I understand, it is no easy task, but they expressed they are diligently working to get gas turned back on as fast as possible. I have offered any state resources they may need to assist them.”
This will not be an easy or quick fix, according to Justice, so meals will be provided through various local charities, including senior centers and churches, in the coming weeks.
“The other big problem is making sure people are fed hot meals, especially through the Thanksgiving holiday next week,” Justice said. “We have both Kanawha Valley Senior Center and Lincoln County Senior Center pitching in to provide hundreds of meals. We are also working with West Virginia Health Right and A More Excellent Way Life Center Church on the West Side to take care of families. If this outage continues through Thanksgiving, we will make sure families are fed.”
Working with the West Virginia Emergency Management Division, Kanawha County Emergency Management, and the City of Charleston, the guard will be delivering bottled water along with various warming and cooking supplies to the West Virginia Health Right West Side Clinic located at 511 Central Avenue, Charleston on Thursday morning, Nov. 16, 2023. The time is yet to be determined.
Mountaineer Gas told the Gazette-Mail on Wednesday that customers will be receiving credits on their bills, although the credit may not apply until a future bill.
West Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Health and Human Resources were among the state government agencies affected by a computer system outage on Tuesday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Update, July 21, 2022 1:46 p.m.
Update, July 22, 2022 1:01 p.m.
West Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Health and Human Resources were among the state government agencies affected by a computer system outage on Tuesday.
House Technology and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Del. Daniel Linville, R-Cabell, said that two mainframe parts failed at the same time.
“The parts were not available for the both of them here in town,” Linville said. “Because of that very unfortunate set of circumstances, multiple parts had to be ordered, and get here as quickly as possible.”
Both the DMV and DHHR, which includes the WV PATH family support system, offered alternative methods to receive services.
Linville said the state owns and houses the hardware and power systems for its mainframe operations. He said if the computer system were transferred to external servers, there would be infinitely more network backup to quickly restore an outage.
“If you put that in the cloud as opposed to having it on-site, you’ve got significant redundancy all across the country and the ability to reroute that traffic without anyone noticing any impact,” Linville said.
Linville said legislators and state leaders are working on transitioning the state’s computer system to the more cost effective external servers. He said even with natural disasters, a problem like this would not take the systems down.
“The DMV actually is getting a major upgrade very soon to their services that the legislature has already appropriated money for,” Linville said.
Linville said as of Thursday morning at 10 a.m.,the parts were in, but functionality had not yet been restored and the manufacturer had to recode the system.
West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles released a statement Thursday afternoon says customers can take advantage of two online services – vehicle registration renewal and driver’s license renewal.
DMV Commissioner Everett Frazier said the services are available at all kiosk locations across the state.
The statement said while the mainframe outage is still affecting services like title work and driver record updates, DMV is continuing to do everything possible to assist customers.
“Our offices are absolutely open to the public,” Frazier said. “We are answering questions, reviewing documents, and helping customers the best we can until the mainframe is repaired.”
In his Friday coronavirus briefing, Gov. Jim Justice said technicians with the Office of Technology continue to work on getting the mainframe fully back online.
DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch said the WV PATH app, allowing people to apply for benefits, still has problems. He said people can apply, but DHHR cannot process applications, so there will be a backlog to deal with when all systems are fully back online.
Residents of Wheeling were cleaning up Wednesday after a strong storm Tuesday morning.
Residents of Wheeling were cleaning up Wednesday after a strong storm Tuesday morning. The damage is significant, but isolated.
Generators, chainsaws, and woodchippers provided a soundtrack Wednesday as the Wheeling community recovered from the Tuesday morning storm that knocked out power to most of downtown, Wheeling Hospital, and several communities to the east.
The damage was severe enough that Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for Ohio County Wednesday afternoon that will remain in effect for 30 days.
At its height, the storm passed through the area with sustained winds of 60-70 miles per hour, and gusts of up to 80 miles per hour.
Lou Vargo, the Director of the Wheeling–Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, says the trail of damage indicates a unique weather event.
“It’s a straight line event,” Vargo said. He is asking the National Weather Service to investigate.
“And they said, ‘So are you thinking a tornado?’ We’re not seeing the twisting of the trees coming out. It’s just literally uprooted these trees, 100 year old trees, three or four foot diameter trunks of trees that were just lifted right out of the ground,” he said. “You can almost look on a map and just draw a straight line, put an arrow and say ‘This is how it came through.’”
Some of the promised 100 work crews have already arrived to help restore power as quickly as possible. As of Wednesday evening, 7,000 residents remained without power, but an American Electric Power (AEP) representative said restoration would continue late into the evening.
The number of residents without power had improved to 5,000 by Thursday morning.
“This is an all hands on deck situation,” said Joelle Moray, External Affairs Manager with AEP.
Justice also announced members of the National Guard will be on the ground Thursday to help with cleanup.
No fatalities or injuries directly related to the storm have been reported. Vargo hopes it stays that way, and urges any residents using power tools or moving large downed trees and limbs to use caution.
Sections of trees downed by Tuesday’s storm had to be cleared to make roads in Wheeling Park passable. The park bore the brunt of the damage from the storm, and park officials estimate more than 100 trees were damaged.Workers in Wheeling Park feed debris into a wood chipper as part of cleanup efforts Wednesday. A strong storm on he morning of June 14 caused significant damage to the park’s trees.
To the east of downtown, Wheeling Park seemed to bear the brunt of the storm’s force. Park manager Nat Goudy said more than 100 trees were damaged, many of them large and decades old.
“Some massive, massive trees that were 50, 60 feet high, just drop, snap like a twig,” Goudy said.
So many trees were down Tuesday morning, Goudy said he couldn’t even drive into the park and had to come in on foot. The park’s roads had been cleared Wednesday, but the park was still without power. Goudy hopes it will be restored soon so the park can return to being a center of the community even as cleanup efforts continue.
“We’re the city park,” he said. “It was amazing seeing the support of the people coming in yesterday. ‘What can we do? Can we bring some rakes over? We’re here to help you.’ You know, just people who love the parks, want to make sure it stays open.”
Vicky Yost echoed that sentiment of camaraderie.
“In the middle of a catastrophe, in the middle of what could have been a tragedy, I looked up my lane and I saw eight of my neighbors coming down,” she said.
Yost lives across National Road from Wheeling Park in the Stamm Lane area, which was directly in the path of the storm.
One of those helpful neighbors was Terry Huffman, who described being woken up by the storm.
“It was the wee hours of the morning. I’m not sure exactly what time but it hit hard and fast, five minutes, maybe,” Huffman said. “Literally the whole house shook and was as loud as a train going through your house.”
Huffman was helping the Yosts get a generator installed to make sure they had a way to cool themselves down.
“The biggest thing now is we have people without air conditioning, and it’s going to be really super hot today,” he said.
Terry Huffman assessed storm damage in front of his house in the Stamm Lane area of Wheeling. Huffman considered himself lucky, as falling trees just missed hitting his home during the June 14 storm.A black walnut tree blown over by the June 14 storm lies precariously over a street in the Stamm Lane area of Wheeling.
According to data from the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, Wednesday’s high in Wheeling was 92. But with high humidity, the heat index –- or what the temperature feels like –- was closer to 100.
Tim Ritchie walked across the bridge from his home on Wheeling Island to access a cooling shelter in the WesBanco Arena. He said the walk, which normally takes him 15 minutes, took him an hour in the heat. If power outages persist along with high temperatures, his biggest concern is his elderly neighbors.
“Half the island’s pretty much no electric and there’s a lot of people that don’t drive,” Ritchie said. “I mean they offer bus service, but the elderly is not going to hop on the bus and come down here.”
Officials hope additional work crews will help get more people back on the grid quickly, but efforts may be stymied Thursday by even higher temperatures, and the threat of more storms through the afternoon and into the evening.
“We can restore power during a rain event,” Moray said. “The wind is the factor.”
AEP is monitoring the weather, but the company’s meteorologists believe any storms Thursday will not rise to the level of Tuesday’s event.
A man walks across 16th Street under a traffic light with no power in downtown Wheeling. In the background, just one block away, other traffic lights are functional. The June 14 storm left a focused line of destruction across the Wheeling area.A man looks at a tree completely blocking Grandview Street in the Vineyard Hills area of Wheeling. Work began on removing the tree, but was stopped due to the tree lying on a power line.Tuesday’s storm significantly damaged the roof of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services Mary Margaret Laipple Professional Building in downtown Wheeling.
