SUSSEX COUNTY, Del.- RE/MAX Realty Group Rental Agent Sharon Palmer-Stauffer manages many rental properties up and down the coast including 16A Houston Street in Dewey BeachÂ
This past weekend, power was turned off at the home leaving tenants in the dark and without appliances working.Â
"Tenants that were coming in, the weekly guests planned their vacation you know eight months ago," Palmer-Stauffer said. "They are coming in to check into a property that has no power."
The landlord lives in New York and says something like this has never happened. She’s been a Delmarva Power customer for twenty years and she called the emergency line this weekend with no help available because this was not considered an emergency.
Delmarva Power Spokesperson Amber Burruezo explained what an emergency is.
"Whether it’s a storm, a pole accident, or things like that," Burruezo said. "There are unfortunate circumstances and they do occur over the weekends often times and so we will not do any type of move-in over the weekend."
The landlord says Delmarva Power should have customer service available every day to handle situations like these.
"They need to have 24/7 service," the landlord said. "What we were told when we called the emergency line on Friday evening on an emergency line that there was nothing they could do to turn on the power until 7 a.m. Monday morning. We told them that there were people that needed medicine and they needed a refrigerator, etc. and to no avail."
Burruezo says that for landlords to avoid the troubles, agreements should be set up between tenants and landlords that will allow for service to be continued.
"However, if a landlord and a tenant decide to not have that on file, then when the tenant disconnects the power there will be a disconnection of power at the residence and the landlord would need to do a move-in to have the power restored," Burruezo said.
The lack of communication is what frustrated Palmer-Stauffer and the landlord the most. Burruezo added that the company is unable to do 24/7 service and will not consider it.
Delmarva Power Customer Service is available Monday-Friday 7 a.m.- 7 p.m. at 1-800-375-7117. Emergency numbers are 1-800-898-8042 for electric and 302-454-0317 for gas.