OHIO — There’s a plan at the statehouse to make power companies pay for the food and medicine that goes bad during outages.
News Center 7’s Cody Butler spoke with lawmakers about why the idea is getting a lot of support.
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We’ve all been there at one time or another when the power goes out for hours or even days and spoils the food and medicine in the fridge.
It’s up to you to eat the cost.
“Folks should be compensated,” said Rep. David Thomas, R-Jefferson.
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He’s working on a bipartisan bill that would make utility companies pay for lost food and medicine when the power is out for 16 hours or more.
“Those folks that are damaged, that are harmed, should be compensated in some way,” Rep. Thomas said. “You shouldn’t still be paying for your distribution of power when you actually have no power.”
Right now, utilities are fined by the state when power isn’t turned back on quickly enough and that money goes to the state general fund.
“That money, for example, should be going then directly to help compensate those, as opposed to just being a penalty on a company and not actually making restitution,” he said.
Thomas’ proposal would put that in the hands of customers.
“There’s no actual legal mechanism to get that money that penalty,” Thomas said. “The folks that were actually harmed.”
The idea is popular with many people we spoke with on Wednesday.
“When the power is out, and they’re losing food, they’re losing all these different things to be able to take care of their families, I think the company should in some way reimburse, even if it’s not 100%,” said Terry Matthews, who supports the proposal.
Matthews said he’s worried about when the power goes out at his house.
“If the power doesn’t get back on and the milk gets spoiled, then who’s to, you know, give that back and refurbish what’s going on in the household,” he said.
This idea is still in the very early stages.
Thomas said he expects the bill to be filed as early as next week.
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