Power outage plans spark confusion

A power outage reportedly scheduled to take place yesterday from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. threatened to disrupt routines at locations on Walnut Street, including the Freshgrocer, which did not receive notice of a planned outage until yesterday afternoon.

But at around 5 p.m., the outage was called off after complaints about the short notice.

The Trammell Crow Company -- the firm in charge of some of Penn's off-campus facilities -- sent a memo yesterday afternoon to tenants in the area, including the Freshgrocer and The Daily Pennsylvanian, noting that the construction company had "received notice from PECO [Energy Co.] that Walnut Street from 39th Street through 42nd Street will be experiencing a disruption of service TONIGHT between the hours of 11:00 p.m. AND 5:00 a.m."

The Freshgrocer received a fax at 2:30 p.m. from Trammell Crow notifying the store of the planned outage.

The store had started securing dry ice and mobile generators to save its perishable items in what Delromano called "two or three hours of panic." Store officials planned to keep the 24-hour store open.

"The cost would have been extensive," Delromano said. "I need much more notice, at least two weeks. Everything you need to do in an emergency situation costs emergency type money."

Delromano speculated that the store's complaints to Trammell Crow and PECO helped postpone the power outage.

But a PECO emergency line employee said that talk of a power outage was merely an e-mail rumor, and that the energy company had no plans for an outage for last night.

"I don't know how that information would have gotten started to be passed around," she said. "The customers would be notified ahead of time if the power were going to be shut off. We're not aware of any planned outage for this evening for the area."

But members of the Alpha Phi sorority, whose house is located at 41st and Walnut streets, had different information.

"We actually got something that was forwarded to us that said PECO energy was going to shut off the power," said Alpha Phi President Lisa Snyder, a College junior, last night.

A little after 5 p.m. yesterday, the University notified the DP, located at 40th and Walnut streets and whose staffers work to publish the newspaper after 11 p.m., that PECO would postpone the power outage. Earlier in the afternoon, Vice President for Facilities Services and Real Estate Services Omar Blaik had said that the University was trying to get plans for the outage halted.

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