The residents and businesses in Saint Clair and Schuylkill Haven can't shop around for their own electric provider but that does not bother them.
Earl Wingle, 71, of 415 Naffin Ave., Schuylkill Haven, has nothing but praise for the service provided by the borough.
"Yep, they're good," he said. He has lived at his house since 1970.
Residents pay the borough for their electricity because the borough owns all of the infrastructure and belongs to a consortium with other municipalities in the state.
Schuylkill Haven borough Manager Scott Graver said by joining the consortium better rates can be achieved.
When asked why the service is good, Wingle said his electric is rarely out for long periods of time. During superstorm Sandy, he said, "it was off maybe five minutes."
He didn't bother to call the borough because he knew that it would be back on shortly, and added that borough workers respond promptly when called. Some municipalities go without electricity for long lengths at a time when dealing with an issue, he said.
Kelli Childs, 32, also a borough resident, said she, too, didn't have a problem with paying the borough for service.
"I don't really mind at all," she said.
Graver and electricity foreman Jim Haeseler said there are many benefits to having the borough own the infrastructure.
Graver said the borough can turn on electricity the same day if needed.
"That's the sort of things that people don't see that is a benefit of having a borough-owned utility," Graver said Wednesday. "We have the ability to respond within minutes or hours. We have the ability to hook you up within minutes or hours of an application."
"We go out and actually do the shopping for you that best fits our needs, demand and everything else," Haeseler said.
He said that during Sandy, some areas of the Schuylkill Haven did lose power because a 60-foot tree knocked down power lines.
About half of the residents who lost power were restored within 15 minutes. Within two hours, the rest of those who lost power were restored except for an apartment building.
Haeseler said weather conditions were too dangerous to try to fix the lines.
In Saint Clair, Roland Price, borough secretary and Electrical Superintendent Bob Petrozino said the ability to respond in minutes is a big plus.
A council member was driving past a transformer in the borough Jan. 8 and noticed it was sparking. The electricity department was able to respond within 20 minutes and solve the problem. Petrozino said the time from being informed about the issue to completion was 45 minutes.
An outage that occurred in late October 2012 due to bad weather had the main transmission lines from PPL that feed into the borough downtown. It was a "large tree that was blown over by the wind and it took out the PPL lines that feed the town," Petrozino said.
Power was out for about 48 hours, he said.
If something occurs to the lines outside the boroughs, there is nothing that can be done short of calling PPL about the lines, representatives from each municipality said.
The money from the payment of bills goes to each municipality.
