ANDERSON TWP., Ohio — In Anderson Township's Washington Woods neighborhood, neighbors are sharing their frustrations about what they call constant power outages.
Katie Aldridge, who has lived in the neighborhood since 2021, said it doesn't take a severe storm to knock their power out.
She said even minor weather can cause problems, partly because power lines run through their backyards and a lot of them are surrounded by trees.
“It’s exhausting just trying to deal with it," Aldridge said.
Aldridge showed us the power lines in her backyard Friday. Some lines had branches and limbs leaning against them or even hanging off them.
WATCH: Hear why Aldridge and other neighbors are calling on Duke Energy to fix the problem
One pole near her backyard was pulled down by a tree that fell during last week's storms.
She said it doesn't take much to cause an outage in their neighborhood.
"It's so aggravating and just frustrating," Aldridge said.
Aldridge has a generator for her home, and she can track how often it turns on.
She says since August 2021, her generator has run for more than 486 hours. That means, on average, her home loses power for nearly 100 hours in a year.
“I had no idea it was this bad," Aldridge said. "We are 10 times the national average for a severe weather year and five times the Duke average.”
Just down the road, Ken Kushner said he's lived in the neighborhood almost his entire life. He said constant outages have become the norm for the neighborhood.
Kushner said losing power creates problems for families, such as trying to keep their food or medicine refrigerated.
He said the outages are more than just an inconvenience.
“This infrastructure is almost 60 years old," Kushner said. "It’s time for Duke Energy to upgrade our immediate area.”
Kushner and Aldridge say they've reported every outage and have asked Duke Energy to fix the problem. However, they said nothing ever happens.
“I feel like we're deprioritized," Aldridge said.
We reached out to Duke Energy asking if they were aware of the concerns and doing anything to fix the issue. A spokesperson for Duke Energy sent the following statement:
"Duke Energy Ohio understands that any power outage can be frustrating, and we are actively reviewing reliability performance in the Washington Woods area to identify ways to strengthen service for customers. Across our system, we continue to invest in grid improvements, including self-healing technology that automatically reroutes power around damaged equipment, as well as approved vegetation management practices to reduce tree- and limb-related outages. We will continue working with customers and local leaders as we evaluate additional steps to improve reliability in this neighborhood."
For neighbors like Kushner and Aldridge, they said a change is long overdue.
"I realize they've got lots of customers, but this isn't hard," Kushner said.
