Last evening, Lower Merion Township in conjunction with State Senator Connie Williams held a public utility summit. All local State Representatives were there, a handful of commissioners, the Township Manager, and the PUC. It was a good evening, fairly well attended, although we will note that there should be a follow-up summit in September for those residents who were unable to attend. PECO,AQUA, and Verizon sent loads of people – I guess we are paying all those salaries in part through our rates? Everyone should watch the replay on Channel 7 (unless of course you have Verizon Fios, and in that case you will have to rent a DVD or video from the library)

Here is the SAC Report Card:

A+ -- Goes to State Senator Connie Williams, St. Reps Daylin Leach, Cathy Manderino, and Mike Gerber for being there and being citizen advocates

A+ -- Goes to Lower Merion Township Commissioners, Doug Cleland Township Manager, Pat Ryan Asst. Township Manager, LMPD Supt. Joe Daly, and Don Cannon Director of Public Works. They asked important questions, gave great feedback, and are a major catalyst for positive change. They listen to our utility company complaints and seem honestly frustrated by the same issues citizens are frustrated by.

C -- Goes to AQUA. Yes, they create hopscotch obstacle courses on our roads, but their personnel were not only friendly, but they gave us many direct phone numbers to call in case of a problem. They also seemed to interact best with the public, and actually seemed to care about our comments. They also tried the best to answer questions.

D --Goes to PECO. While Ralph Brown, their Government Affairs guy seemed to do his best to answer direct questions, it is apparent PECO doesn’t really have answers to consumer and governmental concerns. PECO has MANY service related issues, we heard a lot about that. Response time (emergency and non emergency), customer service, the inability to get a live person on the phone and even adequate response as to why they are in such sorry shape with regard to infrastructure were hot button topics. As consumers and customers, we deserve better. And that woman with the brown hair who said she had only been on the job a few months? She has a lot to learn, and we’ll leave it at that. PECO had the most suits and managers in the room.

F – Goes to Verizon. The main guy doing the talking to Verizon is what teenagers would have described as “bone head”. Was he in P.R. for Verizon? He answered every question like a tent revival minister “I feel your pain. I hear you.” Well Verizon, can you hear us now? Your dude didn’t seem the least bit interested in what many of us had to say, as a matter of fact many times while people were speaking and addressing him, he didn’t appear to be paying attention. Ignorance, flakiness, or A.D.D.? And Verizon, we weren’t all there last night and watching on TV to listen to dude pimp for Fios. We also learned from Commissioner Lance Rogers that those residents who have signed up for Fios don’t have government or public access TV and might not for up to a year. And we want them in our community WHY? The Verizon guy also was in danger of growing a Pinocchio, because we want to point out these items:

http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=17381023&BRD=1597&PAG=461&dept_id=188818&rfi=8
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18264745&BRD=1597&PAG=461&dept_id=188818&rfi=6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmY-tIt59Is
http://www.saveardmorecoalition.org/node/1520
http://cabletv.com/1749-post1.html
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archive/index.php/t-590208-p-6.html
http://shutup.terapad.com/index.cfm?fa=contentNews.newsDetails&newsID=28110&from=list
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=891087&goto=newpost
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/verizon-fios-internet-service-c20993.html
http://www.baristanet.com/2007/08/verizon_fios_what_else_is_miss.php
http://www.cartoonbarry.com/2007/08/verizon_fios_man_sets_fire_to.html
http://www.highdefforum.com/showthread.php?t=48541
http://policyblog.verizon.com/PolicyBlog/Blogs/policyblog/EricRabe9/347/FiOS-is-Hot-but-not-that-Hot.aspx#When:15:30:57
http://iphone-cheats.com/news/verizon-fios-beware-that-first-bill/
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=470214
http://www.somelifeblog.com/2007/07/verizon-fios-installation-big-disaster.html
http://brothersinblog.com/2007/07/18/verizon-fios-an-almost-install-review/
http://blog.squirrelfish.org/index.php/2007/07/26/verizon-fios-privacy-concerns/

Can you hear us now Verizon? And Mr. Verizon Man , the elephant in the room you refused to mention was COMCAST C-O-M-C-A-S-T. We hope Brian and Ralph Roberts were watching Channel 7 last night, because that was one of the funnier, more pathetic aspects of the evening. Also, another SAC member reports that one of his customers has been without phone for a month since Fios came to their neighborhood, AND that whatever the debate is with copper wiring, he hears that Verizon has removed copper in some places – and we have read that on other message boards around the metro Philadelphia area. We also wil lnote that we have not heard one good thing about Verizon TV from anyone who has subscribed.

And Verizon? The people who want those boxes moved? Do it now and don’t wait, or we’ll get out there with our digital cameras and start a count on the number of days to move a box. With one location you are already at about 14.

People? Let us know about what utility company is bugging you and why. We’ll pass it along – you can post up here if you’d like (and we’d like that too).