Leaders tell Duquesne Light to "stop hiding" from questions about April storm response

State and local leaders want answers, saying Duquesne Light, for a second time, canceled a meeting on its response to the April storms that left hundreds of thousands without power.

Leaders showed up at Duquesne Light's office in Downtown Pittsburgh on Thursday morning, demanding someone speak with them. 

"Duquesne Light, you need to stop hiding from your customers," said state Rep. Abigail Salisbury.

Holding up signs, Salisbury and Braddock Hills Councilwoman Cassi Schaffer took the fight for answers to Duquesne Light.

"They didn't show up to the town hall in Wilkins Township last month, and they canceled with only 2 hours, 15 minutes notice for the county council meeting last night," Salisbury explained.

"Are you saying you feel they're evading accountability?" KDKA-TV's Mamie Bah asked.

"So, the reason that they gave yesterday is that they want more time to put together an after-action report on their storm response," Salisbury responded.

State and local leaders want to question the company about its rates and response to the April storm that left a trail of downed trees and many in the dark for days. Hundreds of thousands of people were impacted, including some of the most vulnerable.

"We as customers of Duquesne Light don't get to decide we don't want to pay the bill. If we're late paying the bill, then they might shut off our power. But they're late taking any kind of accountability for their storm response,  and they're experiencing no consequences," Salisbury explained.

When KDKA-TV reached out to Duquesne Light, the company said it began an after-action review of its response before recovery was even complete.
 
In a statement, a spokesperson said in part: "This review included multiple in-person survey sessions with affected customers, multiple public hearings to answer questions from the public and elected officials, and nearly 40 sessions with 1,000 DLC employees to solicit feedback on what we can do better."

But Salisbury said, "The storm was April 29. It's Aug. 21. You've had kind of a lot of time to be able to put together a response. I think that it was rude to cancel with 2 hours and 15-minutes notice.

Duquesne Light says it looks forward to the rescheduled meeting next month, where it'll release its report.