INDIANAPOLIS — Utility issues are preventing some people from moving into newly built homes all over Indianapolis.
“This is a custom home that I wanted, it’s perfect for me and my dogs, it’s got a big yard but no power,” Kim Buchanan told WRTV.
Buchanan is hoping she will one day move into her dream home. She says she's been waiting for her power to be turned on since October.
“The builder cannot proceed any further until we can have permanent power installed by AES,” Buchanan added.
It’s an issue that contractor’s have reached out to WRTV about. At a construction project, there are two kinds of power — temporary and permanent.
Temporary is what the power company provides to a job site for construction. Permanent is what is supplied once a homeowner moves in. Without permanent power, contractors tell WRTV the project can't move forward.
“It ultimately slows our job down, which nets us less homes that we are able to complete,” Contractor Paul Musielak with Gem Homes told WRTV. Contractors, like Paul Musielak, says he's experienced the same issue.
“If that 8-10 becomes 6 to 8 because we are waiting on utility hook up that's a million bucks in revenue for our company that we are not going to get this year,” Musielak told WRTV.
AES says that timelines do vary based on the job.
In a full statement to WRTV, AES said:
At AES Indiana, we strive to provide builders with accurate timelines to provide power for new builds. There are a lot of factors that need to be considered when establishing timelines for new builds. Every job is unique and requires specific timelines and processes.
We recently met with several builder associations and have begun to address their concerns in a thoughtful manner by maintaining an open dialogue with them and their members. Additionally, we are beginning to investigate solutions to enable on-demand access to status updates.
This new system implementation is quite common right now in our industry here in Indiana and across the U.S. as all utilities work to improve the customer experience. We understand some customers have experienced issues starting service on newly constructed homes or businesses. We apologize for the difficulty and are working to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.
Customers with a concern can contact our Construction Team at 317-261-8333.
“Without the permanent power we have to regulate the house with space heaters, which is not only not safe its extremely expensive,” Buchanan concluded.
