Details of PPL's diversion of crews from restoring power in a high-priority area after an Oct. 29, 2011, snowstorm may emerge now after the state Supreme Court overturned a lower-court ruling that allowed PPL and the state Public Utilities Commission to keep them secret.

The Supreme Court panel of judges on Wednesday handed down the ruling, overturning a Commonwealth Court ruling that reversed a 2013 Office of Open Records decision saying the utility and PUC should turn over the documents.A consortium of news outlets, including the Times News, had asked the OOR to order the information released. But PPL and the PUC appeared to Commonwealth Court, which in December ruled in their favor.The Times Leader and The Morning Call initiated the original suit to force release of the details. The news consortium is represented by Harrisburg attorney Craig J. Staudenmaier.The case has been wending its way through the courts for years.The information sought by the news outlets includes details of a PPL employee's tip to the PUC that the power company diverted the crews, delaying restoration of power to 1,400 PPL customers.The PUC found PPL at fault, but eventually reached a $60,000 settlement with the power company.As part of the settlement agreement, PPL would not disclose details of where the crew was sent, the locations of where the restoration was delayed when the crew was diverted, who sent them, and who benefited from the diversion.PPL spokesman Paul Wirth has told the Times News the diversion was the "result of a misunderstanding that led a lower-level supervisor to make a wrong assignment for one repair crew."Reporters Andrew Seder of the Times Leader and Scott Kraus of The Morning Call in August 2011 both filed Right To Know requests with the PUC to obtain the information, but the agency refused.