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by Eugene Driscoll | Sep 2, 2011 11:59 am

(4) Comments | Commenting has expired | Send link to a friend | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, HURRICANE IRENE

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Thursday he heard a barrage of complaints about how utility companies reacted to Hurricane Irene.

Blumenthal toured the state’s battered coast line, then made stops in Seymour and Oxford.

“What I have been hearing, all around the state, is frustration, anger, outrage,” Blumenthal said.

When asked whether the feds should look into the way the utility companies in Connecticut responded to Irene, Blumenthal said:

“Right now the priority should be restoring power and securing from FEMA the money we need to rebuild,” he said. “But, in the longer term, there very well may be the need for a federal inquiry or review or investigation of why the response was so slow. What was not done to prevent and prepare for this kind of challenge.”

See the video for Blumenthal’s complete statements.

The following is a letter Blumenthal send to CL&P’s president Friday morning.

Jeffrey D. Butler
President and Chief Operating Officer
Connecticut Light & Power
P.O. Box 270
Hartford, CT. 06141-0270

Dear Mr. Butler:

As you know, Connecticut continues to suffer the devastating effects of Hurricane Irene. As of this writing over 172,000 customers in Connecticut are still without power – now 5 days after the storm. Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) is responsible for over 149,000 of these homes and businesses, representing 86 percent of those without power in Connecticut. According to CL&P’s estimates, nearly 100,000 customers will still be without power by Saturday and full power won’t be restored until sometime next week.

Equally troubling is the suggestion in yesterday’s Hartford Courant that CL&P will be considering steps to recoup financial losses from this storm by raising utility rates on the very customers who have been left without power. This suggestion for raising rates is unacceptable. I urge CL&P to immediately and publicly disavow and abandon this idea and assure the people of Connecticut that they will not be forced to bear this additional burden.

The idea of raising rates as a way to recover storm related costs is particularly objectionable in this difficult economic time when families are struggling to find work and stay in their homes. Our state’s rates already are among the highest in the nation and Connecticut families and businesses are struggling to recover from one of the deepest economic downturns in our nation’s history.

As I traveled the state this week meeting with state officials, first responders, mayors, residents and small business owners, I’ve heard loud and clear the concern that your company did not do enough to prepare or respond, and is not doing enough work now to restore power. I share these concerns. Among the most common complaints are your lack of communication and absence of timelines for restoring service, and disregard for priorities set by local officials’ health and safety. CL&P’s poor performance stands in stark contrast to Connecticut’s municipally owned utilities in the state which restored power to 98 percent of their customers by mid-day on Wednesday as well as to the experience of utilities in surrounding states.

I will work to ensure each and every CL&P customer has a voice in this fight. I can appreciate the severity of this storm and the record number of crews working on this but Connecticut and its people deserve better.

Comments

posted by: Stan Muzyk on September 2, 2011 8:43pm

CL&P said that they will raise their utility rates—to pay for the huge cost of restoring power. They could have waited with the higher rates threat until they restored power to everyone. UI has also played the same recording. Bad public relations, especially for the people who have, and and are still suffering from the Hurricane Irene disaster.

posted by: Pauline Cilley on September 2, 2011 10:26pm

We were warned that a hurricane was headed our way. We were told to prepare. Now that the hurricane has devastated many areas of the east coast, crews are working 16 hours a day. The fallen trees and the broken limbs have to be cleared away before the linemen can go in and restore the electricity. Coordinating the work crews is a monumental task. CL&P has this responsibility and their supervisors have to check everything before, during and after each repair. Complaining and criticizing won’t change anything. Appreciating and thanking them for their efforts is the right thing to do.

posted by: Mary Ann Kozey on September 3, 2011 11:15am

I think the problem here is the fact the utility companies are going to raise the rates to compensate for the restoration of power. I think connecticut pays some of the highest utility rates in the country, and I don’t blame the public for protesting.

posted by: Francesca Martin on September 3, 2011 12:49pm

There is an interesting article in Friday’s NY Times about CL&P’s parent company, Northeast Utilities, which is requesting regulatory approval in Massachusetts to merge with another utility, NStar. The tenor of this article, essentially, is that the deal should not move forward:

www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/business/stormy-weather-for-a-utility-merger.html

Fran Martin

Valley Independent Sentinel