Government Officials Question SWEPCO’s Preparations For Storms

After another round of severe weather has taken power out to tens-of-thousands of residents in northwest Louisiana, some officials are reexamining who's responsible.

While its obvious that no person or company is responsible for severe weather, the question surrounds how companies are preparing for severe weather when there is advanced warning.

KTBS Reports Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell is looking into how Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) is preparing for incoming severe weather. Foster told the TV station that his team will be looking into how SWEPCO is operating, and wants to make sure they're doing it in the best way possible.

When KTBS spoke with SWEPCO, Michael Corbin told them:

"SWEPCO has never built a line over a tree, the line is there first and a homeowner a business owner somebody plants a tree under or near an electric line."

However that doesn't address any of the rural areas where trees grow naturally. When it comes to taking care of that, SWEPCO told KTBS that their tree trimming and cutting budget is outdated, and is a quarter of a century old.

When Public Service Commissioner Campbell was asked about that, he pushed back. Telling KTBS:

"For SWEPCO to say they don't have any money that's baloney, straight up baloney, they have money I want to see how they are spending the money, I'm not sure they are spending it wisely."

As of 2023, the Energy and Policy Institute reported that CEOs of utility companies in the US had been making $3.2 billion in compensation.

Public Service Commissioner Campbell has been question SWEPCO's ability to keep power on for a few months, and this latest round of storms is just the most recent example of his complaints.