Cleveland Public Power has 'history' of 'deferred maintenance,' chief says. The cost of upgrades to Cleveland's city-owned utility could fall to residents and businesses already fuming over summer power outages. Cleveland Public Power needs to upgrade the system it uses to deliver electricity to residents and businesses. But the 120-year-old, city-owned utility's main source of money for improving its poles, power lines, underground cables and substations is the ratepayers themselves. That was the power grid dilemma that city officials laid out at a meeting in Ohio City on Tuesday night. Cleveland City Council Member Austin Davis called the meeting after summer heatwaves and storms knocked out power for thousands around Northeast Ohio, sparking resident frustration with both CPP and its investor-owned competitor, FirstEnergy. Some of CPP's equipment dates back almost to its first years in the early 20th century, Commissioner Ammon Danielson told the audience of about 60 people at Urban Community School. "Part of what we are dealing with is a history of, unfortunately, deferred maintenance," he said. "That is part of my goal and responsibility to change, and we are working on it. But the flip side of that as well is that it's expensive and our customers have to pay for it." City Hall, which has been working on a strategic plan for CPP, has previously said it could cost more than $250 million to overhaul the public electricity provider. The utility has raised its rates over the last two years - its first increase since the 1980s. Waiting so long to hike rates contributed to CPP's current situation, he said. CPP has also looked to grants to help pay for improvements, but Danielson said there aren't as many available as he would like. Another way to bring more money into the system is to add big new customers. Davis said council members have talked about trying to connect Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to CPP. That would require the utility to extend beyond its current service area, which does not include much of the far West Side. Businesses and neighborhoods feel the impact of power outages. Cleveland's outages have emerged as a major issue for City Hall this summer. Residents at Tuesday's meeting shared the financial and human toll that they blamed on power that came in and out. One said she had to pay an electrician to install surge protectors in her breaker box. Another said half of the fish in her fish tank died from her home's temperature fluctuations. A third, Sharon Sage, said she was starting to lose confidence in CPP. Sage moved to Cleveland last year and said the number of power outages surprised her. She told Signal Cleveland she lost electricity for a few days in March, April and July. When the power goes out, she and her neighbors - who include FirstEnergy customers - buy each other ice to help keep food cool, she said. She said customers shouldn't take a "this is just what it is" attitude toward power outages. "I fight against that because I don't feel that's the right mindset," she said in a phone interview Wednesday. Sage said she would be open to paying higher rates for power system upgrades, but that not all customers could absorb the expense. CPP should be transparent about costs if it does seek a rate hike, and it should pursue other options, too, she said. "I would just want to make sure that raising our power bills is not the full solution, but a part of the solution," Sage said. Danielson said overheating underground cables were at the heart of the CPP outages in the first week of July. He also acknowledged that CPP has struggled to communicate with its customers. The utility's online outage map displays widespread outages but not smaller ones. CPP's customer callback feature had broken, too, but was now fixed, he said. The nonprofit Ohio City Inc. has urged Mayor Justin Bibb to offer emergency relief to businesses that lost customers and saw food spoil over the July 4 weekend. City Hall said it would meet with businesses and the nonprofit about the power problems. Cleveland Public Power vs. the competition. If CPP has a face-saving card to play with unhappy customers, it is this: Cleveland Public Power is not FirstEnergy, the investor-owned utility that admitted to its central role in the multimillion-dollar House Bill 6 scandal and this year inked a $275 million settlement with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Once known colloquially as Muny Light, CPP has long been in competition with Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co., now a FirstEnergy subsidiary. Danielson said pointing to FirstEnergy's own power outages doesn't help CPP's customers. But he did have a chance to draw a contrast when asked if it was feasible to merge with another electric company. "We're competing with a utility that is not our good friend," Danielson said. "They are much larger than us. And certainly, there is no interest in merging. I think we have kind of polar goals in life in terms of why we are operating our utilities." That won him a smattering of applause in Ohio City. Have questions about power outages? Fill out the form below. 0 of 600 max characters

Fairmont State University receives grants for STEM camps and student employment programs. Fairmont State University received grant funding totaling $20,000 from the FirstEnergy Foundation and $10,000 from the EQT Foundation to support student-focused initiatives on campus, according to a July 13 announcement. The university's Office of Sponsored Programs assisted in obtaining these grants. The funds were used to host two Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) summer camps and support the university's Student Professionals Corps (SPC). The STEMpact Camp aimed to help rising tenth and eleventh-grade students envision themselves as future scientists, engineers, and mathematicians by exposing them to career opportunities. Similarly, the Aerospace Careers & Engineering (SPACE) Camp provided high school students with immersive STEM and college-readiness experiences. Both residential camps offered enrichment opportunities designed to help West Virginia youth see themselves succeeding in higher education. The university's Title III Strengthening Institutions Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education established the SPC program to provide professional student employment opportunities aligned with post-graduation career goals. Through on-campus employment experiences focused on workforce development and career readiness, Fairmont State sought to improve higher education attainment rates in West Virginia. Stephanie Jones, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education; Todd Ensign, Ed.D., STEM Outreach Specialist; Nicole Samson, Career Connections Coordinator; and Valerie Morphew, Ed.D., Assistant Provost for Teaching and Learning Innovation and Title III Project Director led these projects. Jones said, "This funding allowed us to provide high school students with a preview of what further study in a STEM field could look like. It also supported our goal of helping students develop a network of peers, undergraduate students, and faculty members who could encourage them as they completed high school and considered higher education." Ensign said that support from FirstEnergy Foundation and EQT Foundation helped lower participation costs for SPACE Camp: "Thanks to the support from the FirstEnergy and EQT Foundations, we were able to dramatically lower the cost of participation for SPACE Camp. In our fifth year, we had a strong following, with half of our 24 students returning year after year to engage in a rotating STEM topic." Samson said about her role as SPC Project Lead, "Participation in this program helped students build confidence, distinguish themselves from their peers, and prepare for the transition from the classroom to the workforce. The SPC also offered meaningful work experiences that provided financial support to students as they pursued their undergraduate degrees."

From a transformer fire to intentional outages, many in Cuyahoga County face power outages amid heat wave. Both Cleveland Public Power and FirstEnergy are experiencing outages on Wednesday, causing businesses to shut down early and residents fearing the heat. Posted 8:22 PM, Jul 01, 2026 and last updated 8:36 PM, Jul 01, 2026 CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio - The start of this week has seen brutal temperatures, so now more than ever, people are heavily relying on air conditioning. Both Cleveland Public Power and FirstEnergy are experiencing outages, though, causing businesses to shut down early and residents fearing the heat. In Lakewood, residents are no stranger to power outages, especially during the winter. Now that summer has rolled around, residents like Cheyenne Burke were hoping for a seamless electrical experience. "The last time actually was a couple of days ago right before this heat wave," Burke told me on Wednesday. "About 5:30 in the morning, for about an hour. It felt intentional like they were trying to wait before, you know, everybody was up and getting to work. It lasted for about an hour and just kind of, out of nowhere, woke me up, turned all my fans off." She did not experience a power outage Tuesday or Wednesday. That could very well change, though. Cleveland Councilman Charles Slife posted to social media that FirstEnergy was working to install two new poles on Wednesday: one on Rocky River Drive near St. Joseph Academy and another in Lakewood. When passing Edwards Avenue Wednesday afternoon, though, I saw what looked to be a new pole being installed. Slife said because of the installations, there would be a temporary and intentional power outage at some point. He said the outage may last up to an hour for those affected. I reached out to FirstEnergy for an interview. A spokesperson provided a statement instead. We understand how frustrating it is to be without power and do not take planned outages lightly, especially during extreme heat. As a precaution, we are installing two new poles in Lakewood and Cleveland that will strengthen the local system and help reduce the risk of a longer or more widespread outage while electric demand is high. To complete this work safely and switch customers to the new equipment, a temporary outage may be required. We will inform customers who may be impacted by a temporary outage before it happens. We appreciate our customers' patience as our crews work as quickly and safely as possible to complete this work. FirstEnergy spokesperson I followed up asking for specifics on how long the outage could last and when it could happen, but FirstEnergy didn't say. "The first thing going through my mind is why now? Why this moment? Why during a heat wave do you decide to intentionally turn what's saving a bunch of people's lives off, keeping us all cool? Even if it is only for an hour, which I don't know if that'll be the case, why now?" Burke said. "The fact that I don't know when it's going to happen, I don't know where it's going to happen. I wish that the Illuminating Company and FirstEnergy would communicate with us a little bit more. It'll give us a little bit more information to work with when we're dealing with our power going out." With the number of outages she's experienced in her time as a Lakewood resident, she said she has started preparing by purchasing a backup generator and portable chargers. "I wish you would plan better. I wish you would inform us of more. I wish we knew about these things way before they happened, especially if they're planned. It should have been fixed a long time ago. It should not be something that they up and fix during a heat wave," Burke said. FirstEnergy wasn't the only one under a microscope Wednesday. Cleveland Public Power is also receiving backlash after a transformer near West 57th Street and Memphis Avenue appeared to have caught fire late in the afternoon. The power outage impacted those surrounding the transformer, including Dina's Pizza and Pub. Jill Carter, a longtime employee of the business, told me it was the second day in a row they've had to close early due to an outage. Carter said the power went out at Dina's around 5 p.m. on Tuesday. "(We) had a full bar. Half of the restaurant did not come back on after nine o'clock, so we had to close. We lost business yesterday, which was a very busy night," Carter said. Twenty-four hours later, and the power went out again around 5:15 p.m., Carter said. She said Wednesdays are busy nights as well as the business runs a two-hour-long game called "Name That Tune." "We have a lot of reservations and regulars that come in for it, so unfortunately, we closed within a half hour of us getting here today," Carter said. Carter said 12 large parties had to be notified of cancellation and closure. "It impacts everything. People come every week for it. Literally had to call everybody and let them know that we are closing," Carter said. Carter told me this week's outages are nothing new as the restaurant consistently has problems with Cleveland Public Power. "We can't keep doing this. It's affecting Dina and everybody that works here. We have about 90 employees," Carter said. We reached out to Cleveland Public Power for more information Wednesday afternoon, but have yet to hear back. CPP did post to social media that electricity use is expected to remain "very high" across Greater Cleveland and the surrounding region. Cleveland Public Power asked that customers conserve energy between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. "Small changes across our community can make a big difference during periods of high electricity demand. Thank you for doing your part to help keep power reliable for everyone," Cleveland Public Power said on social media. If CPP provides information regarding the outage near West 57th Street and Memphis Avenue, we'll share that here. We Follow Through Want us to continue to follow through on a story? Let us know.