The counsel and other organizations want to determine whether or not electric companies are doing enough to limit power outages in their respective regions.

Last month, 10 Investigates reported that AEP was expected to try and recover part of the $31 million it spent fixing lines that were damaged in the storm by billing customers. The groups want to prevent electric companies from raising customer rates until an investigation can determine if some of the outages were preventable.

The Ohio Consumers' Counsel has filed the request for an investigation with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

"We believe their practices over the past years have resulted in inadequate services and problems with reliability," said Consumers' Counsel Janine L. Migden Ostrander. "We think it's time to have an investigation and require the utilities to provide better service."

The commission will review the request before it can comment on any possible investigation.

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