Update: United Illuminating crews made major progress between 3 p.m. Monday and 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.
As of Tuesday morning, the outage numbers were as follows:
Ansonia: 17
Derby: 4
Shelton: 150
That’s less than one percent in each town.
Original story from Monday follows:
About 8,000 customers are still without electricity seven days after Superstorm Sandy blew through the region, the CEO of United Illuminating said at a 3 p.m. press conference Monday.
There were 683 UI customers without power locally as of 3 p.m., according to the utility company’s website.
The local outages break down as follows:
Shelton: 624
Derby: 34
Ansonia: 25
To contrast the Valley’s situation, the Town of Fairfield had 2,190 customers out as of 3 p.m., or about 9 percent of all UI customers in Fairfield.
UI executive Jim Torgerson said 98 percent of his company’s customers will be restored by the end of Monday.
There are about 2,000 customers UI can’t bring online because of individual safety issues at damaged homes. In many of those cases, local officials have prohibited electricity from being turned on because of other storm damage to the homes, Torgerson said. The executive did not specify which towns fall into that category, but indicated he was talking about homes on the Connecticut coastline, which bore the brunt of Sandy’s storm surge.
Torgerson said the company is well-prepared for a nor’easter that is forecasted for Wednesday. That storm traveling up the East Coast is expected to bring rain and 50 mph wind gusts.
UI has double the number of crews in the area.
“We’re in pretty good shape for that,” Torgerson said, referring to the nor’easter.
The National Weather Service issued the following statement early Monday:
“A significant coastal storm will likely impact the tri-state region Wednesday and Thursday. Confidence continues to increase that strong gusty winds … Rain/wintry precipitation …Coastal flooding and additional beach erosion will result from this system. Stay tuned for the latest forecasts.”
UI estimated storm cleanup is costing them between $35 million to $40 million, but stressed the number is only an estimate at this point.
Finally, Torgerson said the company will set aside time so its employees and contractors can vote Tuesday.
