Lakewood's power grid: what's broken, what was promised, who to call
In two summers of outages, PUCO Staff found equipment failures, not storms, and described much of Lakewood's equipment as older than elsewhere in CEI's territory. This map shows which substation powers your block, what has failed, what FirstEnergy has promised and by when, and what it still hasn't made public.
Type a Lakewood street name to see which substation serves it, its track record, and your council member.
What FirstEnergy promised, and where it stands
Status per FirstEnergy's own statements unless noted. "Claimed" means not independently verified.
Commitment
Where
Due
Status
Source
What isn't public yet
The data voters would need to check the work. Each item is something the city, PUCO, or a resident can ask for.
Which poles
FirstEnergy says it has worked on 167 poles in Lakewood since Oct 2024 and must finish pole repairs by 12/31/2026. Across CEI there are about 15,500 open pole defects and a roughly 5-year backlog of priority pole work, per its own filings.
Ask for: the addresses and status of every open pole defect in Lakewood (PUCO corrective action 3).
Which trees
FirstEnergy says it trimmed about 100 locations in Oct 2025 but hasn't named them. Its rate-case testimony ranks 10,070 high-risk circuit miles with a risk tool, but no circuit-level schedule is public. Tree-caused outages still made up 22 of 63 records in its own log.
Ask for: the trim date and risk score of each circuit serving Lakewood.
Which equipment is next
CEI committed, at PUCO Staff's request, to a load analysis of Lakewood's failed equipment by 10/31/2026 and replacement of overloaded gear by 12/31/2027. FirstEnergy is offering an "overall plan" instead of a unit-by-unit schedule. Its rate-plan case lists no Lakewood project or dollar figure.
Ask for: the list of overloaded units, with replacement dates.
46 days with outages over 5 hours
FirstEnergy's own log for Lakewood, Sep 2024 to Sep 2025: 63 records, one per date and cause.
Equipment, line, overload, company errorTreesVehicle, animal, unknownLeft out of official stats as a "major event day"Dot size = customers affected
The FirstEnergy Scandal. An independent, noncommercial project. Not affiliated with FirstEnergy Corp. or The Illuminating Company.
What's on the map
Colored zones: FirstEnergy's hosting-capacity map (R.C. 4928.83, data 2026-06-24), grouped by the substation code in each circuit's name. The zones are approximate: networked feeders and single-phase sections aren't mapped.
Substation status: PUCO non-compliance letters (2025-07-25, 2026-08-07), CEI's 2026-08-21 response, and maintenance work orders in CEI's rate-plan filing (Case 26-0347-EL-AIR, McMillen Att. BSM-2). OpenStreetMap substation sites where available; otherwise the centroid of FirstEnergy's hosting-map substation polygon (approximate). Descriptions come from PUCO's 2025 and 2026 non-compliance letters and CEI's 2026 response.
Wards: City of Lakewood council ward map (2026). Ward population figures are estimates from ACS 2020 to 24.
Diamonds: Lakewood Fire Dept. incident reports in Mayor George's affidavit (PUCO 24-1112-EL-ESS).
Lead-cable line: drawn straight between the two substations. The real route of the six underground circuits isn't public.
Caveats
Substation codes (LD = Lauderdale, LW = Lakewood) are inferred from voltages and PUCO's text.
Promise statuses come from FirstEnergy releases and filings; several are unverified.
Maintenance costs cover substation power transformers only. They exclude capital replacement, lines, cables, and poles.