damaged appliances from 2023 surge
Damaged appliances from the surge.
On Jan. 27 a car struck a utility pole on Monroe Street, causing a power outage and surge affecting thousands of households on the near west side of Madison.
“It seemed like a disco light show went off when the surge hit,” recalls Paul Meyer. “The appliances were blinking and then there was a loud pop, which was pretty freaky. I’ve never experienced anything like that.”
Meyer’s refrigerator, washing machine, microwave and furnace were all damaged beyond repair due to the power surge. Months later, he continues to find items in his home that require replacing.
The surge happened just after 9:30 p.m. on a Friday night. After hearing nothing from Madison Gas and Electric over the weekend, Meyer contacted customer service on Monday. He hoped to receive a statement he could use to file a claim with his homeowner’s insurance. Meyer says the customer service provider had no knowledge of the event, and could not immediately share any information.
Another affected homeowner, Brian Tennant, who says he lost about $5,000 worth of appliances due to the surge, contacted MGE as well. “I just expressed my frustration with the fact that there was nothing from them. No acknowledgment, no communication.”
Within a week of the incident, MGE did release a statement to customers within the outage area.
The utility said that a vehicle crashed into an MGE pole causing the power outage and subsequent “voltage variations.” The statement characterized the event as “rare and unlikely” and said it was beyond MGE’s control.
The utility says that more than 2,000 homes were impacted by the power outage, but is unsure how many homes were impacted by the power surge.
Tennant and Meyer say they have tried unsuccessfully to get more information about the cause of the surge from MGE.
“What I lost here is trust in my public utility,” says Meyer, who has lived in Sunset Village for more than 25 years. “They’re known as a good corporate citizen, but now I’ve got a big asterisk by them in my mind because they’ve not handled it very well at all.”
Tennant, a longtime resident of the Westmoreland neighborhood, says that MGE should have figured out a way to offer some financial reimbursement to homeowners who suffered losses. But MGE says it cannot be held liable for any damages that are “beyond the utility’s control.” MGE is protected under state law, which states that any “variations of voltage” caused by external factors is not a violation of service rules for electrical utilities.
MGE has encouraged customers to reach out to their insurance companies, but offered no financial reimbursement.
Tennant says the utility could do more. “This is a very established public utility with a lot of resources,” he says.
“They’re standing behind what is clearly a statute that gives them protection, but I think that is very much in contrast with the image they project as a company of being this great community partner and community asset.”
Due to a high deductible, Tennant paid for the damage from the surge out of pocket. Meyer paid his deductible and received some insurance reimbursement for his losses.
Tennant, Meyer and other neighbors remain skeptical about the cause of the surge. “Surges do not take out a ton of people’s appliances all in one go,” said one commenter on a NextDoor post that received about 250 comments. “Something is not right here.”
“My viewpoint is that the car accident did not cause the damage in our homes. MGE’s infrastructure’s response is what caused it,” says Tennant, who would still like MGE to provide a better explanation of what happened.
When asked for a response to these claims, MGE spokesperson Steve Schultz emailed Isthmus a statement.
“The vehicle’s impact to the pole caused a fault current event on our electric distribution system. The fault current caused a conductor to fail and to fall into another conductor below, resulting in an overvoltage on the lower conductor,” Schultz explained. Information on the fault current was not included in MGE’s initial statement.
