Many United Illuminating customers in Shelton could remain without power through the weekend — and the wait could be a bit longer for the smaller percentage of customers still out in Ansonia and Derby.
UI officials held a press conference Friday morning in Orange where they reiterated their pledge to have 95 percent of customers online by 11:59 p.m. Monday.
While UI crews are still working away in sprawling Shelton, where 5,266 customers were without power Friday morning, the restoration progress has stalled in Ansonia and Derby.
As of Friday morning, 712 UI customers were without power in Ansonia. Another 241 customers were out next door in Derby. Those outages have remained steady since 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Ansonia Mayor James Della Volpe told the Valley Indy Thursday that UI, after making repairs to high priority grids in Ansonia, had moved to other towns to make high-priority repairs.
So, Ansonia announced Friday morning they were opening an overnight shelter at the senior center on Main Street. Members of the city’s Department of Public Works were handing out fliers to spread the word Friday.
Meanwhile, in Derby, volunteers with the city’s Office of Emergency Management Friday were going door-to-door to check on residents who have been without electricity since Monday.
Other towns in UI’s coverage area still have massive outages. Ninety-four percent of Southport is still out as of this writing. Sixty-one percent of Easton is out.
Ansonia and Derby saw solid progress earlier in the week, but then progress stopped. That is, unfortunately, the way utility companies make repairs when there is major damage to its electrical grid.
“If we can get 500 or 200 back versus one, we’re going to get the 500 or 200 and then start doing the ones,” said James Torgerson, president and CEO of UIL Holdings. “That’s why when you look at the restorations, we get 95 percent, but then it slows down. It’ll actually start slowing down over the weekend as we get big the bulk of customers back.
“Then it starts slowing down, then you’ve got to do them one at a time, so it’ll take a while longer,” he went on. “For example, in Ansonia, it’s probably in that category, but I think we’re going to get, as we said, 95 percent of just about every town back by Monday night, town-by-town. It’ll slow down once you have to do them one at a time.
Click the play button above to see Torgerson’s remarks.
Anthony Vallillo, another United Illuminating top executive, said the company’s target for Friday was to restore 35,000 to 40,000 customers to service throughout its coverage area. There were 73,213 out as of about 11 a.m.
Click here to see a town-by-town list of outages in UI’s area.
Vallillo said the company has more than 500 linemen in the field, as well as 375 tree clearing personnel and 350 other employees. The crews are working 16-hour shifts.