PUC seeks $4.5M from Met-Ed for death of Northampton man

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is seeking $4.53 million in civil penalties from Metropolitan Edison Co. over the death of Thomas Poynton, a Northampton County man, according to a July 23 news release.

Poynton was killed on July 26, 2016, when a high-voltage conductor, owned and operated by Met-Ed, fell into the backyard of his home on Royal Manor Road in Easton. 

Poynton stepped outside his home after hearing a loud explosion and was electrocuted when he encountered energized ground. The Poynton home was also damaged by a resulting fire.

According to the investigation by the PUC’s Bureau of Investigation & Enforcement, the independent investigation arm of the PUC, Met-Ed used a series of “bronze hotline clamps” attached to the 34,500 volt transmission lines near the incident site, which were intended for copper conductors, not the aluminum lines they were attached to. This was contrary to the manufacturers’ specifications.

Additionally, the complaint alleges that Met-Ed’s ground-fault protection system failed on the day of the incident, allowing the continued flow of electricity to the conductor after it fell to the ground.

Along with a civil penalty of $4,533,000, the Commission is seeking corrective actions focused on training, supervision, and how to respond to 911 requests to de-energize equipment. 

The complaint also calls for the immediate creation of a Met-Ed program, to be approved by the commission, for the inspection, maintenance, repair and replacement of “any and all conductors containing clamps and/or other connections that have been installed contrary to manufacturer’s instructions and defective ground fault equipment.” 

Met-Ed has 20 days from the date of service to file an answer to the formal complaint.

Attempts to reach Met-Ed for comment were unsuccessful.

Met-ED, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp, an electric utility headquartered in Akron, Ohio, serves more than 560,000 employees in southeast Pennsylvania.