street lights don't work

About 10% of our street lights don't work. We're about to transition from DR Horton to HOA-member control. JCP&L, our street light provider, just won't fix these street lights. DR Horton is telling us street lights are JCP&L's responsibility. We're a new development. We're going to start the transition process shortly. Does anyone know if the street lights are DR Horton's responsibility? If so, how can the street lights be DR Horton's responsibility if the lights are owned by the utility company, JCP&L? Thanks

Start with finding out who put the lights in. There may also be something in your documents (the Bylaws and CCRS), so read those as well.

I imagine your community has or will have a board of directors who will participate in the transition - you will need to set up a punchline of items related to the common areas that haven't been addressed. The board will need to monitor those items to ensure they're reserved before the community changes hands. Whether that may ultimately mean the homeowners will need to take legal action remains to be seen.

Everyone else knows what I'll say next - go to the CAI website and invest in a few educational materials that provide helpful information on community transitions from the developer and other stuff. Not everyone has experience in running a HOA and This is a nonprofit organization managing hundreds of thousands of dollars, so the more you educate yourselves the better.

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I would simply contact the electric company. Several times if need be.

You should get a work order number when you submit the issue.

Thanks for everyones feedback. I ended up speaking to a Manager at the Utility Company. I'm going to provide him list of non-working lights. He assured me the Utility Co. will fix and bill the home builder. Util co. attributes 100% of the non-working street light issue to homebuilder damaging underground wires. Util Co. going after homebuilder for reimbursement. In summary, Utility Company Manager assured me the Utility Co. will repair all lights. Thanks for everyones feedback and advice to check further with Utility Company. Thanks

Our developer is long gone, but the arrangement they set up and that we still have is that the lights are leased from the power company. The lease includes maintenance. This seems common around here, although some communities own their lights and just pay for power.

Anybody with web access can go to the power company's web site and report a light out. Not just for our community, but pretty much any street light in the county including most roads other than state roads and major highways. I probably report a dozen lights a year on the roads around our area because if not reported, they can be out for months or years.

As far as the OP's case is concerned, if the power company wants to try to claw back some damages from the developer, that's between them and the developer, the monthly fee includes repairs other than obvious physical damage like somebody crashing into a lightpost. I assume it becomes an insurance issue then.