Lake Orion’s School District has filed an emergency order with the Michigan Public Service Commission. It wants to prevent the Detroit Edison Company from stopping its efforts to install the next phase of its Educational Telecommuications Network.
The network is a critical component of both instructional and administrative services the district supplies to the students, community and staff.
Edison has stated in writing that the poles are ready for the district’s attachments, but now has again refused to allow the attachments unless the district pays fees it contends are illegal.
‘Detroit Edison is intentionally stopping the schools from installing the instructional network before the start of this school year,? LO Schools Superintendent Dr. Craig Younkman said.
‘Apparently it believes that will put pressure on the schools to pay the illegal fees they are trying to charge us.
‘We find Edison’s tactics to be unsympathetic and it’s completely inappropriate to hold the students? educational telecommunications network hostage while trying to force us to pay these disputed charges.?
Lake Orion charges that Detroit Edison is not following the rules, intentionally delaying the project and attempting to charge illegal fees.
School officials say under both state and federal laws, schools are allowed to attach to these poles and the Michigan Public Service Commission has set the rates and terms in an already published tariff.
The current situation boiled over in April when Detroit Edison refused to allow additional Lake Orion Schools attachment because of alleged violations of the National Electric Safety Code in prior attachments.
According to school officials, the prior attachments were actually made by a Detroit Edison affiliate on behalf of Lake Orion.
Lake Orion withheld money it owed to the Detroit Edison affiliate until Detroit Edison assured, in writing, that the violations have been corrected, which Edison did.
The school district is now attempting to install phase two with a different contractor. It learned Edison didn’t correct the earlier violations. So some of the disputed charges now relate to trying to require Lake Orion to pay a second time for corrections which Edison’s affiliate should have corrected the first time.
‘We need the rest of this network installed and we need it now,? Younkman said.