Scranton, PA – Questions have surfaced about a Pennsylvania ski resort’s viability after the local public utility cut off power to the resort.

Snö Mountain in Scranton, previously known as Montage Mountain, has had its electricity shut off by PPL Electric Utilities, according to a utility spokesperson quoted by the Citizen’s Voice newspaper of Wilkes-Barre, Penn. The spokesperson, Rich Beasley, further indicated that state law requires the utility to make diligent attempts with a customer before cutting off power.

A radio station transmitter atop Montage Mountain, which receives its power through the resort, has been operating at reduced power on a backup generator since power was lost without warning on Sept. 29. The radio station CEO was quoted by the newspaper as saying that their efforts to communicate with Montage Mountain officials about the outage have not generated a response.

Calls to the Snö Mountain, where a voicemail greeting indicates that staffers are “working diligently” to open for the 2011-12 ski season, have not been returned, but the newspaper reports no sign of preparation for a winter season on site at the resort. A post on the resort’s official Twitter account this week indicates that the resort “WILL BE OPEN for the 2011/2012 winter ski season, we continue to prepare to make this season our best season yet.” The ski area has also scheduled a job fair for Saturday, Nov. 5.

The resort, which was first opened as Montage Mountain in 1984 by Lackawanna County using federal economic development funds, is one of Pennsylvania’s largest ski areas. Renamed in 2006, Snö Mountain provides skiing and riding over 1,000 vertical feet with uphill transport provided by one quad chair, three triples, one double and two carpet lifts. It’s lodge sits in an unusual mid-mountain location with easier skiing on the mountain’s upper half and more challenging terrain below.