But the widespread power outages throughout the July 4th weekend left an impression on Welle, an activist: Clevelanders paying for electricity should be more in the know when their power cuts out. The holiday weekend outage, which left thousands in the dark due to overstressed underground cables, has put Cleveland Public Power customers further at loggerheads with the public utility they feel should be more transparent. On Tuesday evening, two dozen of them gathered in a meeting room at the Lorain Ave. branch of the Cleveland Public Library. In 2025, the group published a “blueprint” for how CPP should revise its policies to better thrive as a public utility. Cities like Austin, Sacramento and Eugene, Oregon have citizen-involved groups that act as liaisons between public utilities and those buying power from those utilities.