Actions

Tulsa man waits months for PSO powerline repair

By: Ryan Love

Posted at 3:09 PM, Mar 02, 2023

and last updated 2023-03-03 19:26:38-05

TULSA, Okla. — A long, grey, temporary powerline draped and snakes its way through Aaron Johnson’s Tulsa backyard for the better part of a year.

“We don’t allow anyone back here because of this, it’s a hazard to people and it’s not acceptable," Johnson said.

It’s been 10 and a half months, he says, since a private contractor cut the powerline to his home and two others while working on a project in their neighbor’s backyard.

Johnson said PSO did come out quickly at the time to get their power back on, but did so by running that temporary line to their meter box. But that was a long time ago.

Where the line is spliced together really concerns his family.

“You can see it’s been here so long it’s starting to settle into the ground, it’s been that long," he said.

A permanent fix never came even though and Johnson said he’d made 150 calls to PSO.

“We’ve gotten the runaround, all these promises to get it done, taken care of. We’re going to run new cables, get a new meter box, then none of it materializes, we’re at their mercy.”

It was especially daunting last summer since Johnson said the temporary line couldn’t carry enough amperage to properly run their air conditioner, which eventually burned up.

“It’s quite obvious, in the heat of summer with the temps we had last summer, literally the lights would go out, you’d be in the dark for a second as soon as the A/C kicked on.”

The rain has been even more of a concern when Johnsons said that splice in the wire would be swallowed up in a puddle of water.

“So we don’t allow our son to come out here, our animals, anything when it’s raining because of the fear of being electrocuted.”

He said he could only shrug off the problem for so long.

“It has to be frustrating for our neighbors as well because this temporary line runs through their backyard as well as a third house down.”

Finally, Johnson contacted the Problem Solvers and we emailed our contact at PSO. We heard back that same day, and Johnson said the line was removed that same day. The permanent line was buried.

Now they’re making progress on getting reimbursed for the A/C unit they had to replace.

PSO provided the following statement:

“We understand the customer’s concerns and, while the temporary line that has powered the home was safe, we agree that the final repair took too long PSO is proud of its customer service record, but this situation clearly shows some room for process improvement. We can learn from this. We were able to safely restore and upgrade the home’s underground service and will continue to work with the customer to address his concerns.”

Johnson said he’s ready for the headaches to be gone, and once again to enjoy their backyard.

Contact the Problem Solvers: