Baltimore Gas & Electric has promised to find solutions to the problem of frequent power outages in the Allview Estates and MacGill's Common neighborhoods, according to a local County Council member.

More than 100 people-- some who had lost power that day-- attended a Sept. 11 meeting, during which BGE officials said they would investigate reports of fires and sparking occurring on lines, respond to customer service complaints and tell residents how they could request more aggressive tree trimming in the future, County Council member Jennifer Terassa said by phone Sept. 12.

BGE is supposed to have proposals for residents in the next two to three weeks and another community meeting is planned for October or early November, Terassa said.

BGE officials did not return a call for comment by deadline.

The company previously cited heavy storms in June as a reason behind the high number of outages and the company began doing routine maintenance, which had been scheduled for the fall, earlier than planned because of complaints. The last time crews had been in the neighborhood to perform maintenance was 2004.

Tree trimming, designed to reduce the risk of tree branches knocking down power lines, has occurred in the area, but it has not been enough to stop complaints of outages, Terassa said.

Outages have also been reported in parts of MacGill's Common in Kings Contrivance in Columbia, which has power lines linked with Allview Estates, she said.

"I felt it was a very good first step," said Marcy Amos, 64, an Allview Estates resident who has had 16 power outages since the start of the year. Some lasted for hours, others for days; and while some happened during storms, others took place on sunny days, Amos said Sept. 15.

Amos said she was pleased BGE officials got to hear firsthand from residents and hopes they will do more tree trimming and repair old equipment more frequently in the future.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Amos said.

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