Following complaints from Lakewood residents who said recurring outages wiped out refrigeration, disrupted medical care, and left them with scant reliable updates, Ohio regulators have moved ahead with a formal action involving FirstEnergy.
For many households, the outages were about far more than inconvenience — residents reported spoiled food, dead phones, unsafe streets, and hours without power during dangerous heat, Cleveland's The Land reported.
Here's what to know
On Aug. 5, 2026, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio sent Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company a notice of probable noncompliance, acting after Lakewood leaders submitted an open letter and survey results to the agency describing extended outages across the city.
Nearly 300 people responded, detailing financial losses, health problems, and major disruptions caused by repeated service failures.
The resident survey was organized by Lakewood City Councilman Tom Bullock with support from Lakewood Mayor Meghan George and the rest of City Council.
It found an average outage duration of 12 hours in Lakewood, and some households reported going without electricity for up to 48 hours.
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According to The Land, 368 households lost electricity from June 30 to July 3 as temperatures climbed above 90 degrees.
In the city's open letter, Bullock wrote that residents endured "significant financial loss, high levels of strain on work and family (including infants, older adults and pets) and harm to health and medical care."
FirstEnergy spokesperson Will Boyle, a senior communications representative, acknowledged the letter.
"We understand how important electric service is to our customers and recognize the disruption outages can cause for families, businesses and communities," Boyle said.
More background
This is not Lakewood's first dispute over reliable electricity.
After storm-related outages and infrastructure damage on Cleveland's west side in 2025, the city moved in Dec. 2025 to challenge utility efforts to lower their reliability standards.
Bullock called that case a major step for local oversight.
"It's the first time a city government has become a legal party in state of Ohio utility leases," he noted.
Although the city prevailed in opposing a delay in infrastructure repair and outage prevention, many residents said service still has not improved enough.
Survey responses also laid out the personal and financial toll.
A staggering 70% of respondents said they had to replace food or spend extra money on eating out. Nearly half said they bought coolers and ice to protect groceries or medication, while 28% reported adverse health impacts or dangerous risks.
Many residents said the company's communication added to their frustration. According to the survey, 86% of affected respondents found outage updates inaccurate or unhelpful.
"The FirstEnergy updates were inaccurate and unhelpful," one respondent said, adding that the utility would "just (keep) moving the [restoration] time by two hours."
What's being done?
The PUCO notice is not a final order, but it does set an Aug. 21, 2026, deadline for Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company to respond.
"Specifics are our friend, details are our friend in situations like these," Bullock said.
Losses ranged from unplanned restaurant spending to spoiled medication, medical devices that could not charge, and intersections made more dangerous by traffic lights going dark.
The city's survey documented those frustrations, with questions still pending about utility planning, maintenance, and communication during extreme heat.
"Our job at the city level is to be a squeaky hinge," Bullock explained.
"We don't have direct control, but we can be a vocal and dogged advocate for our residents, and we've taken the first steps."
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