This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Business & Tech

As Outages Linger, Harford Residents, Business Owners Cope

The Hess Hotels Group president said her company is losing "tens of thousands" of dollars in revenue.

Pam Lytle-Hess owns three Harford County hotels, none of which have room for more guests. But the Fallston resident said Hess Hotels Group has lost “tens of thousands of dollars” in revenue.

That's because while the Sleep Inn near the intersection of Interstate 95 and Maryland Route 24 in Edgewood is filled with local families without electricity due to  , the nearby Best Western and Ramada are closed and without power. Four competing hotels near the same intersection are also without electricity.

More than 12,000 Harford County BGE customers, and almost 150,000 in Maryland, are still without power as of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

“Already we’re hit hard because of the economy and the over-building in the area, so this is like another nail in the coffin,” Lytle-Hess said. “Every night we’re booked. Mostly it’s local people trying to leave their homes because they don’t have electricity. We’re discounting room rates just because they’re local. We’re not gouging prices or anything.”

Lytle-Hess also owns the nearby Denny’s, where all the food has been discarded. Employees at the restaurant, along with most of her hotel staff, have been temporarily laid off with no work to be done. Many of them live paycheck-to-paycheck, she said.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Kelly Geigelman sent her oldest child to his first day of middle school Wednesday, but he had to shower at a neighbor’s house Tuesday night. The Fairway resident, off Wheel Road in Bel Air South, said BGE is aiming to restore her power by 11:30 p.m. Friday.

“We have buckets of water out in the garage to flush the toilet. It’s tough living,” Geigelman said. “You don’t realize what electricity means to you until you don’t have it.”

Linda Gnacyk and her Colonial Acres home off Maryland Route 924 never lost power, but her son, who moved to Bel Air with his four kids a week ago, has no electricity.

“They have two young ones,” Gnacyk said. “We’re doing what we can. They’ll come over here and take hot showers and I’ve been taking meals up to them.”

Lytle-Hess said BGE told her Wednesday morning her businesses are not in the queue for power restoration because they are focusing on “highly-populated residential areas" first.

“BGE recognizes the frustration of many of its customers whose service has not been restored, but it is extremely important that customers refrain from reporting false emergencies such as fictitious gas leaks, which could delay the utility’s response to actual emergencies,” Jeannette M. Mills, BGE senior vice president of customer relations and account services and chief customer officer, said in an email statement. “BGE’s electric delivery system sustained severe and widespread damage and the process of getting all customers back in service is very time-consuming and labor intensive.”

Even so, customers like Geigelman do not want to wait this long again.

“Generators are on our list to buy,” she said. “We’ll be ready next time.”

---

Businesses offering free services for residents without power as a result of Hurricane Irene:

  • : Shampoo and blow dry
  • : Showers
  • YMCA: Showers
We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?