More than 100 homes in a Caledonia neighbourhood have been hit by repeated power outages, with residents reporting interruptions lasting up to 24 hours and occurring at least six times in eight weeks.
Residents in the Wisconsin community say overgrown branches touching power lines are believed to be triggering the outages, even during relatively light rain and wind.
They say they have repeatedly contacted utility company WE Energies, but have often been placed on a waiting list. When crews have attended, residents claim only a small number of branches were cut before further problems emerged elsewhere along the network.
The disruption has caused more than inconvenience. Some households have had to throw away food after fridges lost power, while residents are also concerned about the prospect of being left without heating when colder weather arrives.
Caledonia power outages blamed on trees near lines
Meg Kosterman, one of the affected residents, said: “Our bills aren’t getting any cheaper, yet the service that they’re providing is worsening.”
Andrew Langenfeld, another resident, said the repeated failures had become so common that neighbours now referred to them as a “weekly power outage”.
Residents have also raised the issue with the Caledonia Village Board. The board has compiled information from affected households and requested outage data from WE Energies as it examines the problem.
WE Energies said the neighbourhood was scheduled for extensive branch-trimming work early next year and that it was working with residents on shorter-term measures to improve reliability.
Brendan Conway, a representative for the company, said crews had attended the area repeatedly, but that fresh problems could arise when strong winds affected trees nearby.
“You trim a few trees here and a storm blows 60 mph three blocks away, that can cause an issue that can impact the same customers where you trim their trees,” he said.
Residents say they want a more comprehensive solution before winter, when another extended outage could leave homes without both electricity and heat.
