Power was out until close to 9 pm and the LMPD was there in Ardmore the whole time directing traffic. Wonder who pays for any foodstuffs the restaurants lose? So who is to blame for this? PECO fixed the problem, but is this another AQUA issue with their subcontractors?

On Friday, during First Friday Main Line, PECO was still troubleshooting stuff in Ardmore that night - I saw them on Rittenhouse Place. I also know that some people didn't get power back until well into Friday late morning, and why are people still saying that Utility Line Services was involved somehow? They are the folks who do sub contracting for AQUA, right?

Many thanks to Main Line Times and Rich Ilgenfritz for shining a light on this. Accidents happen, but it's just this area is plagued. If you are someone who was plagued by this incident, we want to hear from you. You can write us at

Posted on Wed, Nov 12, 2008
Ardmore power outage under investigation
By Richard Ilgenfritz

ARDMORE - Hundreds of Ardmore residents and businesses were without power for several hours last Thursday afternoon, and dozens of residents remained without power until late Friday morning."We did have an underground cable failure at 45 Athens Ave. at approximately 2:50 [p.m.] on Nov. 6," said PECO spokesman Ben Armstrong.

"The outage affected 277 customers," said Armstrong. "Two hundred of those customers were restored within about three hours, as we were able to reroute power. The other 77 customers experienced out-ages until 11:15 the next morning as permanent repairs were made."

Subcontractors were working in the area at the time of the failure...Last week's outage was yet another in a series of outages that have plagued businesses in downtown Ardmore.

"I had to close. It killed me," said Joe Rufo, owner of Brownies 23 East....PECO spokesman Michael Wood was asked about the utility's responsibility for lost business and products due to power outages.

Liability for lost products depends on who is ultimately determined to be at fault for the outage, Wood said...If it's a problem that PECO should have fixed, then the utility could be at fault. If the subcon-tractors who were working in the area are directly responsible, their insurance should be responsible for any liability issues, Wood said.

"If a subcontractor hits a gas main or a power line, then that is a good example that a subcon-tractor is at fault," Wood said.