THAT COMPLAINT NOT DISMISS BUT COMBINE TO THE COMMISSION’S

     Counter response to Appalachian Power's initial ANSWER to our Formal Complaint Filing, Dismissal is not formidable in this matter. After speaking with Mr. Wayne Perdue on Monday July 23, 2012, whom asked that I dismiss my Formal Complaint, because the WV Public Service Commission has filed a request for AN answer to 11 questions, from Appalachian Power as APCO and American Electric Power as AEP, as Further Referenced Herein. We have thought this over, everyday reminded what is lost and damaged, and of the persons still struggling. We have yet a day, that Suddenlink Fiber for Internet, isn't interrupted because Power can't be maintained to the Distribution Hub at Sissonville WV 25314, since the Storm.

     APCO/AEP can use any weather excuse necessary, but that cannot excuse the actions or reactions after the 55 minute storm. I was in the storm, south of Winfield, where it was initially reported developing by Radar. In that Path south of where storm developed was APCO/American Electric Power John Amos Plant, where we have not heard of any reports that it affected the Power Generation Units. The storm pushed into Nitro community where I was at the McDonald's restaurant where I decided to stay as conditions started degrading. I watched extreme winds shake trees and stretch them apart without breaking. These trees being old 40 years ago, located behind the Wendy's at Nitro and the Speedway. Then the Rain blew with the wind sideways perfectly horizontal by geometrics, a zero degree gradient on a horizontal plane. That lasted for 48 minutes. The McDonalds Power browned out 11 times before total failure in the first 5 minutes. Confirmed shortly thereafter, that Power was lost to the Pilot Truck Stop at I 64 westbound exit about 20 minutes. The power to the Wendy's and Speedway stayed on until the 45 minute mark of the storm, a limb falling coincidental to that disruption at Wendy’s, and the ferocity subsided 3 minutes later.

     Had been communicating with a former state trooper Mr. Booth, whom was giving me path updates. I was in the center of path, at the time storm started, and they were located on outskirt of storm in Scott Depot. The path seemed to follow the river. One and a half hour before the storm, a cloud cover occurred from the North. Had just completed service work in East Nitro and after the non-threatening cloud cover moved in, the temperature increased from 94 degrees to 98 degrees. I completed tool loading, scribed an invoice, and left driving North on Main Ave. in Nitro. My vehicle was registering temperatures of a wide range and changed at city block lengths. That was my first clue to the weather intensity possible. In the following series was the increments of temperature change that also may have been why there was wind bursts. Upon leaving, the 1st temperature went to 99- 101- 118- 111- 107- 105- 118- 108- 118- 111- 107 then moderated between 105 and 108 degrees arriving at McDonalds. 12 minutes later at 6:03 P.M. the storm popped. 118 degrees on photo.

     APCO has problems with system stability. I was in a similar storm approximately July 1991. The 1991 occurrence was sustained for almost 2 hours, and had wind burst of 90+ MPH with sustained winds of 60 MPH of which precipitation didn't occur as it did in the June 29, 2012 storm. Wind shears in 1991 did far more damage and greater amounts of trees and woods were flattened. The 1991 storm caused lots of damage, but most power was restored in less than 4 days with only a eighth of the damage crew resources in the restoration effort. We filed a Complaint at that time, resulting in ruling against the power Company.

     This Formal Complaint was filed as an Advocacy for Citizens, and also as myself, for the treatment that transpired from APCO/AEP.

     Foremost, in nine days I never had the pleasure of direct communication with an APCO customer service person or any residential service APCO/AEP employee. When I called via a Business Service number for my business service, I spoke with a person whom could ONLY say that APCO/AEP was doing its best, but no time frame was available, because they were told it was SUCH a Horrific Storm.

     Of the outage night, June 29, 2012, Phase 1 and/or 2, of the 3 phase line out of Dalewood, Cross Lanes Substation was not lost or was restored, giving partial power out of Dalewood Cross Lanes Substation. This affected the Cross Lanes Union District sewage plant, until all phases were restored on Sunday Afternoon. This 2 phase supply left spotty outages where the lost 3rd phase normally distributed evenly with the other phases.

     On Sunday afternoon July 1, 2012, we were gone for about 5 hours arriving back at 5 pm. AEP Personnel pickups were leaving at the end of Dutch Creek. Mr. Gibson, a friend was jubilant that power was restored and telling us we should have power. We went home, switched on breakers....No Power. Raced back to Road Entrance, AEP personnel were gone. Back to our Service Distribution, and followed line, found that where power line came out of right-a-way on our property to the next distribution pole, changes were made by APCO/AEP employees. The particular pole after the right-a-way feeds east to our distribution pole. A transformer on the FIRST distribution pole feeds Mr. Paul Huffman’s house only, and then line goes west to another distribution pole and feeds south by a fused jumper to about 7 residences and two garages, one a business. The 2nd distribution pole feeds North 20 feet to a third Distribution Pole, then feeds further to 3 more residence and an over terrain line to Berry Lane from the backside, of what is known as Rock Quarry or Taylor Hollow. From the 3rd distribution pole, a pole and transformer feeds 3 more residences, to the North.

     A diagram map will accompany this counter response showing the distribution line as it leaves the right-of-way across our 1st property, arriving to our next parcel and all the surrounding distribution points of the line. After the line exits our right-of-way, there aren’t any trees in any of the area. In living here for 40 years and my wife at 56 years, never has APCO or AEP disconnected lines feeding customers. At The First distribution pole upon exit from wood right-of-way, power was continued to two more poles. The house of Mr. Paul Huffman of which service drop originates from the first pole wasn’t restored because AEP personnel took the feed to his transformer off the line of which there was NO Cause for such action. The Power Line feeding the next pole East, which feeds Mr. Parson’s family home and our home was disconnected, without any cause. The line feeds to a third pole east which feeds a house and two business service garages. Continues to a fourth pole which feeds In-laws house, that was never reconnected. from a conflict of APCO/AEP inspection mal-handling. The 3rd pole feeds east to a 4th pole that service drops to a house of Lonard and Rose Huffman, of which Rose is a medical necessity need of electricity. Rose has a crippling spine injury. From the Main distribution pole, and feeding West to next pole in direct line and no trees, the feeder going south was opened by pulling the inline fuse. Power was on to the 3rd Distribution Pole. The feed going west from the 3rd pole, without tree interference was removed, and this affecting Mr. & Mrs. Harrison, both having prior heart attacks and open heart surgeries, and in the age of 80 years and older, and considered medical necessity in need of controlled climate were cut off. Yet a branch feed on a transformer from the Third distribution Pole to a line, at an angle north and parallel to distribution line was restored which feds two double wide homes, a residential garage, and through woods and trees to a residence.

     No one returned to restore power, and only after, a complaint informally was made Friday Afternoon, July 6, 2012 at WVPSC, after no communication could be established anytime this week with AEP or APCO, thus 4 crews showed up at 10 am Saturday, July 7. Two line crews left by 11am, with all restored except the fused line south, and crews were ready by 11:30 am, but tree persons did a little more trim work for future safety, and power was restored by 12 pm. for South Line. We were on the bottom of the list because these crews were out the main Rt. 622, at 1PM restraining poles that have been leaning before this storm occurred. It was noted that in some work, emergency crews were doing cleanup, repair of a prior problem.

     The Primary thing to this incident, is that Friday night June 29, 2012 and Saturday July 1, 2012 throughout Saturday morning and early Saturday afternoon, No AEP nor APCO Vehicles of any type were out, nor seen anywhere until after the 1:45 PM announcement by the Governor Tomblin of WV, declaring a State of Emergency was in effect. After 3 PM, trucks were seen around the area, but seemed to be pickup truck, or SUV. No Utility equipment. It is believed that APCO/AEP waited for the declaration for monetary reasons. Those being Insurances, FEMA, and wage and hour control relax due to state of emergency, and some deletion of tree removal expense, if provided by Fire Departments, Rescue, Or National Guard.

     It is also believed that the call for line crews from other areas was well responded, but there was not enough personnel of APCO/AEP to correlate, supervise and command such a massive influx of personnel.

    Noted that on my trip past North Charleston at 7:20 am Monday July 02, 2012, there was hundreds of large equipment units, and no personnel were seen at this equipment, at this time. My consideration was they were wasting daylight. Upon my return trip at 11:00 am there was a couple of trucks leaving, but the majority was still there. Later in the week, news journalist addressed this question of why there was so much idle equipment most of the time? APCO/AEP answer was vague by stating that these crew were working 16 hour days, and the trucks would have to be parked sometime while they rested. I also heard APCO/AEP state that people didn’t understand that equipment usually stops work at dark to allow crews rest, and for safety. My comparison to this Reasoning is if A 16 hour day, wouldn’t it start at 6 AM, work 16 hours and end the day at 10 PM. Why would most of the equipment be parked at Base rendezvous locations during the daytime? So much equipment, and THE multiple companies IN THE AREA, and for self protection, that each company preferred to have equipment grouped at locations they could monitor.

     APCO/AEP waste of money spent on Advertising, of this, or any major outage, was not their fault. Every year, Millions of Dollars are continuously spent in various areas of advertising, much of the advertisements being that APCO/AEP does so much for the community. Many commercials attempt to offset, as in this storm, that APCO/AEP WASN'T AT FAULT...that it was a Horrendous Weather Event. That Advertising money could have been spent to make the system better, then they could brag about how APCO/AEP WEATHERED the storm. APCO/AEP GIVES SUCH A EXCUSE, and it is OK. When an animal or weather causes a person in an accident to hit APCO/AEP Pole or equipment, you the driver, or vehicle owner are to blame, and are responsible to pay for APCO/AEP equipment. I wonder how many times A PERSON’S VEHICLE insurance pays, and APCO/AEP HAS DAMAGE INSURANCE THAT PAYS APCO/AEP. From Personal Experience I was onto black ice in the Sissonville area in 1977, had NO Control, and truck was on its own course hitting a pole two foot off the roadway. Pole location should be illegal because most cases those poles are in the State's Right-of -Way, not at edge of right-of-way. In this 1977 incident APCO/AEP arrived before State Police because of the Black Ice conditions. APCO/AEP personnel didn't have concern of my injuries. Supervisor was very informative that he needed my insurance information, and was writing vehicle information, and telling me that my insurance would be paying for the pole. The Officer who arrived on scene reviewed the condition, the past several hours of black ice accidents, and didn't see any reason to cite me. Accident occurred 8:25 AM. APCO/AEP billed my insurance $643.00 for pole and labor. 4 men and the supervisor made replacement, repairs were complete, and gone before the towing company picked up my vehicle at 11 AM. The ACCIDENT WAS A WEATHER CAUSE, BUT ON MY PART, APCO/AEP STATED NOT AN EXCUSE. Many times I wondered if they charged my insurance, and then recovered from their own insurance, and I can believe easily done. The Supervisor stated he was glad I was still on the scene, because some times they couldn't access a driver's insurance or it was a internal hunt by APCO/AEP to find someone's insurance to charge if they had insurance. If No insurance, then the Company would file charges against those responsible. My chest hitting the steering wheel, and I was in pain, not his concern. That is strong reason that I make Formal Complaints. APCO/AEP deny any responsibility for their Company Actions, but they will hold PERSONS ACCOUNTABLE, when the SAME OR SIMILAR CONDITIONS SUCH AS WEATHER CAUSES THEM MONETARY HARM.

     Other Maximum issue are losses by homeowners, renters, and Business. Stores without power, then reopening and selling goods that weren’t as cold as necessary for storage. Sissonville business were off for days. I purchased a gallon of milk from such a business, that curdled three days before the expire date. We usually have milk that is good for a week to 10 days after expire date. This milk was to expire July 22, went bad on the 18th, and was purchased about July 6, 2012. We lost 175- 200 lbs of deer meat, because we pushed the time limit, not knowing length of outage. We had to get a second generator to power freezer, and we had to repair the 4000 w generator on Saturday June 30, 2012 for refrigerator in house, and some air circulation, after No Communication of APCO/AEP about outage or damage. EVEN NOAA Weather was offline due to power outage. Later, when we got some news reports, APCO/AEP personnel, news journalists were stating: You can go to A WEBSITE to get updates 24 hours daily from APCO or WSAZ or others. What? Be intelligent! NO POWER! NO INTERNET! NO TV! NO COMMUNICATION, NO CELL TOWERS, NO CELL PHONES! We were somewhat prepared, but generator breaking the recoil start spring was unforeseen, and no time frame for outage, and the cost of $40.00 per day fuel cost in running and fuel transporting, for (9) nine days is effective on diminishing fixed income. Losses of Food stuff, and though I attempted to salvage some foods, my Wife would not eat, for there was no means to effectively cook meats or frozen vegetables or fix baked goods without Electricity. You couldn’t go to a restaurant! Our 1100 watt microwave was too big for generator supply and the voltage drop. We Lost food anyway, and I gained weight in trying to eat some salvageable foods, even after power was restored next two weeks, because food in the refrigerator freezer and the extra box freezer, had items that thawed to 33 Degrees and then refroze.

     Speaking with local services suppliers and contractors, many appliances and equipment failed upon power restoration for reasons contributed to power failures, May have occurred as brownouts or overloads, or indirectly as ours occurred. We had to repair a cooling problem with our refrigerator after power was restored. Occurred because refrigerator was off 5 hours every night when generator was shutdown, some defrost occurred, resetting the electronics that allowed ice crystals to form in return airway from refrigerated section to freezer section. Took 3 hours to diagnose, because otherwise all mechanicals were working well, but no airflow returned to freezer for Re-cooling.

     In all, for our household, we incurred loss/cost of $1346.00. Other was Inconvenience, and time lost to have incurred at least 4 hours daily in fuel and generator operation, and maintenance, plus initial repairs. This occurred daily for the 9 day duration. This may be an average or not, but we stretched warm showers for 2-3 days and then had to take 46 degree breathtaking showers for the remaining six days. Attempt experiment on Saturday July 6, 2012 at 9 am, to run water heater on generator for 10 minutes with no other loads, a straining peak at 2800 watts, but did allow some warm water for shower about a half hour before crews arrived to restore power. Unknown that crews were coming, we were still in survival status.

     We Need a larger generator for this type summer outage. The 4000w generator can run a heat pump in the colder winter temperatures, but cannot start the condensing unit in summertime, due to higher Pressures on refrigerant compression start. At least 8000 to 10000 watt generation plant is needed to give some relief. We were able to keep temperatures in house to 80 degrees, but couldn’t control humidity pushing 86 %.

     We have information not contained herein and can also provide others who would like to report their conditions that make this look more like poor management, than an overly severe storm. We wish to make ourselves available, as would our community, and other communities whom gathered information and photos, that show, there is a lack of APCO Responsibility.

     As I formerly stated we had a sustained wind storm in 1991, without this aftermath. QUESTION! What if this was a National Disaster or attack. Most chemical facilities have removed their internal generation systems because APCO didn’t want them competing on the grid, and promised plants would not be at loss for power demand to maintain integrity of the plant. The Cross Lanes Union Public Service sewer plant was off power for two days, and no immediate cause except the loss of the 3rd leg from substation.

     If the WV Public Service Commission can assume my Formal Complaint into The Complaint so Filed by the Commission, and I would be available to be called upon to question, answer or otherwise submit testimony, or report to their inquiry, That WV Public Service Commission request in writing to Dale Foster, giving THAT our complaint will thus be absorbed to the Commission’s Complaint, and Dale Foster will surrender My Formal Complaint to the Commissions Inquiry, and my Protest being stated HEREIN, BE APART OF THE RECORD, and verified, THAT Dale Foster will accept the Commissions conclusion, that Dale Foster will not pursue any further action outside of what the Commission may so request by the Commission’s Inquiry IN THIS MATTER.

     FUTURE, SEPARATE MATTERS, OF OTHER NATURE, REGARDING APCO/AEP ARE NOT TO BE VOID, AND CAN BE FILED ACCORDINGLY.

     If this is acceptable by The WV PSC, the transfer or absorption of Case # 12-0930-E-C Formal complaint into The Commission’s inquiry is Agreeable, Dale Foster steps back to allow the Commission to perform Its Duties for the Citizens and The State of West Virginia.

     We Didn’t receive Appalachian Power’s Answer to Complaint until mid day July 20, 2012, though APCO Certificate of Service says it was mailed July 16, 2012, the postage electronic indicates it was not mailed until July 19, 2012.

Sincerest Respect,

Dale Foster

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    Now, what has been wrong, is action. Though started several years past, supposedly 1996, FCC still didn't think out change from analog to Digital.

    Ah Ha! They really thought that one out! Digital and especially UHF is Directional Transmission! Analog Signals bounce and radiate from different angles. That is why you sometimes see shadows or ghost picture on older television. Digital is like a stream, it flows out from the transmission antenna in one direction. If Receiving antenna is not pointed directly towards transmission antenna, you won’t likely receive Digital, and require to adjust antenna between stations. No station will line up their towers with others.

    Advertisers lose! I watch commercials on over-the-air networks as to support, but if I pay for cable or Dish Satellite systems I believe those should be commercial free or really limited. I am already paying for the privilege of service, and the Cable and Satellite Companies are making money hand over foot with commercials. So I usually don’t buy products from commercials on paid-for-services.