This is why Pat will NEVER go any farther , He just doesn't get it Talk to the crews coming from out of town who will tell you How Great our response is .Riddle me this Mr. No it all where is the investigation why DC was notified 4 hours earlier and they didn't bother to notify baltimore. Call Pat he'll give you a song and dance how he Personally helped two or three people because they were in danger .Get a grip were dealing with almost a million people and EVERY BGE worker has helped probably 100 people above thier job.Stop using the BS that it isn't the BGE workers it is the management this ain't the goverment all us employees are involved in planning and giving feedback to improve after every storm and they listen. Go to Gregg Easterbrook report on the Gov in THE Atlantic on Monday and find out. You'll see where BGE is one of the BEST companies in America in restoration then you have Pepco .

Get over yourself. You have BGE crews out there working 16 hour shifts doing the best that they can to get power back on. They cant just go in and rehang wires... trees have to be moved first and the sceen evaluated before they can do anything. The first thing people should be worried about is the safety of those out there trying to restore your power especially when the temperatures reach 100 and the have to wear protective clothing that adds 10 to 15 more dgrees just to do thier job.... It really blows my mind how self centered and ignorant people are.

You are a moron Mr. McDonough. Is this the way you think the wind is blowing to day? No, it is your breath.

This wasn't just branches falling on wires. Entire trees were uprooted.

I think it says more about the people who vote for this guy year after year than it says about him.

I would like to simply thank the BGE workers who have endured 100 degree temperatures trying to restore power to the many neighborhoods affected in my district.

I dont think Mr. McDonough has a clue at what is entailed with the work that needs to be done in "reconnecting" everyone. He is the reason why voters get all stirred up because of inaccurate information. Too bad!
Thanks to all the workers from BGE and out of state for doing their jobs!

I think it depends on your perspective. If you are one of those 8% still waiting to have power restored, it's nearly 100 degrees, and you rely on a well for water you might think an investigation is a good idea. If you were one of the many that endured or are still enduring living in a very hot, expensive tent you call home perhaps you'd feel differently. Nobody is knocking the linemen who are out there busting their tales in this sweltering heat and working 16 hour shifts, but there has to be a better way. In this day and age it seems crazy that so many people should be without power for days on end every time there is a large storm. Kudos to all of the men and women still out there working but BGE needs to come up with a better plan for preparedness and maintenance of trees near power lines.

You guys are all in love with the Linemen. Mcdonough is right storm's happens and BGE should spend some of their billions on being prepared. That way they don't have to call in linemen from Ohio to work 16hours in the heat, and when they get here all they have is their basic toolbag so they have to wait for the BGE crew anyway. BGE, Verizon, comcast all of them make me sick.

Bottom line is BGE makes a ton of cash every single month, and meanwhile little old grandma is out of power from Friday until wensday with no AC no fridge no nothing. They dont have a problem taking our millions every month.

However, I am really the boss around here. Because I know better. I am prepared with a generator, water, and everything I need. You wont catch me on hold w/ BGE. I know that we cant depend AT ALL on any of these big company's, or the state or anyone. We are all just out here on our own...

I don't see him blaming the linemen whatsoever, the point he is trying to make is BGE wasn't prepared for an event like this. On the flipside, why wasn't the public warned about these storms until the last second? National Weather Service and local media outlets really screwed up with this one. I think it was a 10% chance of rain for that day if I remember correctlly.

My guess is Mr McDonough made these comments from his air conditioned house and then went home to his family at the end of a normal day. Meanwhile, my husband and brother in law have worked 16 hour shifts, in the heat, and have not seen their kids since Sat. Also worked during the holiday. Im tired of every politician bitching about BGE just so people think they care and will re-elect them.

Instead of paying for an investigation into BGE's preparedness I would rather have a tax credit for every generator that's purchased to prepare OURSELVES for another outage.

Pat is right storm's happens and BGE should spend some of their billions on being prepared for anything.. Not having tons of cash sitting on the sidelines for the big payouts at the top.... Guys should not be forced to slave in HOT weather for 16 hours a day... Sorry I will always fall on the side of the guy that works for a living...

I guess The Patch and the Sun paper will do anything to try to give Del. Pat McDonough a black eye because of his stance on the borders and illegal immigration..

LOL, some mental giants say they saw it coming and had time to react? Really, and just what should they have done, constructed supports to keep the trees up? Dumb whiny self entitled babies, yep, that's you, typical helpless American.

To all of those griping about BGE's storm preparedness: how prepared were YOU for the storm? Generator maintained, fuel stocked, bags of ice ready.

Many of those whining that BGE is not taking care of them are the same folks that complain about "nanny" state politicians. I guess when it comes to electricity they don't mind a little nannying.

Everyone is saying that "we should have been warned" about the derecho coming. "BG&E should have prepared for this," another familiar cry. Let me ask the assembled multitude:

What good would a warning do? Other than tying down lawn furniture and trashcans, what else do you suggest that one do to get ready for such a hit? Should everyone rush out and buy every bag of ice they can find just in case they loose power? Or maybe everyone should rush out to Home Depot and/or Lowe's and buy a chain saw and begin trimming or cutting down trees?

How should BG&E prepare? Should they contact every out-of-state utility and ask them to start their trucks rolling in our direction BEFORE we know WHEN and IF they will be needed?

Give me a break. Here is how I prepared after loosing power for 72 hours 6 years ago. I bought a WHOLE HOUSE generator powered by NATURAL GAS that comes on automatically when I loose power for more than 30 seconds. I bought a water bob (a special bag that fills my bathtub and allows me to store 65 gallons of potable water) and a drip filter that allows me to produce potable water from ANY water source (18 liters/day). I have NO TREES within falling distance of my home and I NEVER park my cars where anyone else's trees can fall on them.

That, my friends, is PREPARATION.

Pat how about coming clean? You should apologize to BGE.You said you would.Do you remember Irene? I called to question why were you dumping on us? You and your wife told me that you were protecting some woman who was threatened by a man and didn't have power I told you everyone at BGE were trying , you said it was Shattuck.You said you had inside information over 1000 CEG employees were going to lose their jobs by next June .Constellation said 600 and it was repetitive jobs .But you told me that you knew they were cutting lineman at BGE and told me you would publicly apologize if it wasn't true because you knew lineman that they got rid of just months before they were eligible for retirement. I questioned you and told you if a man was just a few months away from retirement like your neighbor that he would get two weeks for every year up to a year severance .You said he didn't get severance. This is your problem you or your friend were lying , those who lost jobs in the merger was minimal they got GREAT packages many of those not ready for retirement got hired by BGE. Fact is all this was raised by you during your IRENE bashing of BGE . It's July where is your apology? Also in The Atlantic article BGE was rated as one of the best companies in the US in restoration,PEPCO was the Worst yet you always tie us together. Why don't you admit you DON"T know what your talking about? Obviously the people you know who were FIRED by BGE are your SOURCES. You owe honest BGE employees

Wow, Harry! You are Superman! I'm glad that you have that much money that you can obtain your WHOLE HOUSE generator powered by natural gas (which isn't available where I live so I'd need a propane tank). That kind of backup runs into the thousands and not too many people can shell that kind of money out. It's also terrific that you trim your trees! So do we! Guess what? The trees that fall on the lines are MILES from our house. Limbs fall on lines every single time there is any wind. They are along a major road and on a right of way. BGE needs to trim them more than once every 4-5 years. How should they prepare? Have private subs on call. Yep, on call. That way when there is a storm that can't be foreseen they have the ability to restore power in less than a week to people that can't afford the luxuries you have. They should trim the trees more often and insist that property owners keep theirs trimmed as you do. They should also have a different plan to restore power when it is lost. If you have watched the numbers fluctuate this week you can tell they work in an area and then leave and then come back later. Seems like they aren't lining up the proper crews in the correct way, but of course customers have no way of knowing what their plan is because they don't tell anyone and won't allow input from us peons. You know, the ones that pay their salaries.

I fell sorry for those that have been with out power since the storm, but give theBGE workers a break they have to be careful i wouldn't want my son or daughter out their working on lines trying to rush and get killed because they were trying to hurry. When you are working that many hours and start rushing you end up making mistakes. Thank God power is being restored. Yes I do know what it's like we have had ours off for days at a time because of the weather it's not fun, I'm sure the workers would like to get it done and get home themselves. God Bless everyone

Pat McDonough only understands two things: 1) trying to get reelected and 2) donuts.

I am not sure why, but when I lived in Florida, with more frequent storms & outages, it seemed like things just got fixed faster.
I am not criticizing the work the BGE employees are doing, they are working their tails off - I think perhaps this is an issue of numbers - BGE should have called in some more help!

Take personal responsibility. Buy a generator and a snow blower. If you cannot afford them - split the cost with your neighbor.

Pat McDonough what planet do you live on. The storm that blew through here no one expected it to be that powerful and destructive no one was prepared for it. Everyone is or has been suffering in dealing with the power outages. Including the utility workers- in the heat for 16 + hours a day! BGE and the other power companies are working as fast as they can. Their safety is important also. Working around hi-voltage is dangerous
I’m sure you sitting in a cool house with your backup generator that kicked on as soon as power went out. If you are concerned about the people w/o power invite them to come to your house.

First of all, I give ALL the workers out there that are working to put power back on. alot of credit and a big THANK YOU.These workers have to deal with the all the BS comments coming from the same people they are working to help,yeah it is their job,but at the same time some of their own families are without power.Their priority has to be to their job and I am sure that is very hard for them.Some of the tree limbs that pulled down power lines were not even around the lines,so bge was not at fault.Some homeowners will not permit bge,highway workers to trim their trees,until there is a problem.Mr McDonough likes to get everybody worked up and then wants people to think he saved the day.Well look at his past arguments, all his complaining did not change the illegal immigrant issues(which yes i do agree with him on that),it did not change the issues in the city,which he needs to look in his own backyard for the same issues(Hawthorne has one of the worse crime rates in Essex). The storm was not expected and nobody was really prepared,we live in maryland were the weather is so unpredictable.How many times have they called for a accumulative snow storm and everybody runs to the store,and we get a inch or nothing.They call for severe and dangerous storms, we get nothing.People get in a comfort zone and believe what the weather people predict,government or public servants do not control the weather,so stop blaming them and work together to help when the need arises

Given a storm of historical proportion, I very seriously doubt that any utility could have responded more quickly, not to mention to more isolated locations.

I also see that name-calling is alive...and should be banned!

I also applaud and thank the BGE and other workers who spent countless hours in the heat getting the power back on. Those guys and gals are great!

I wonder- do they track the locations of the downed wires over time? If there are particular patches (pun intended) of woods where trees always cut the lines, maybe they can either trim those back more or put those lines underground. Or can they have redundant power paths- if the lines go out at one place, some other set of lines can shoulder the load. I don't know enough about the grid configuration to have an answer for that one, or if adding some redundancy would be cost prohibitive.

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