Chief Executive Officials from Maryland’s seven most populous jurisdictions (among those hit hardest by the recent “derecho” storm event) have sent a joint letter to the state Public Service Commission, with copies to officials from the two major electric utility companies providing service in the state’s central corridor. In the letter, the Mayor and County Executives call for better information shared with local governments to enable and assist local recovery efforts, as well as preventative measures to reduce the chances of future extended power outages.

On the matter of better information, the letter spells out downside of local governments having incomplete data on remaining outages:

If [utility companies] had provided street-level information, it would have greatly assisted government efforts to provide support in these areas. Utility companies can and should provide detailed outage information to local governments, and the June 29 “Derecho” storm showed that local governments cannot fulfill public safety responsibilities without it.

Coverage on the letter, including an electronic version of it in its entirety, is available at the online source Germantown Patch.