“The majority of Connecticut’s delegation is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to look into whether Connecticut Light & Power and Northeast Utilities violated the Energy Policy Act by restoring power to other Northeast states more quickly than to Connecticut following a late October storm,” reports the New Haven Register’s Mary E. O’Leary.
“Also Friday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said a consulting firm headed by former Federal Emergency Management Authority Director James Lee Whit has offered to do a pro bono study of CL&P and UI and their preparedness for the storm; it will be ready for state review by Dec. 1.”
“Given the number of legislative proposals percolating to forestall a repeat of the large number of power outages and to have reforms in place before winter, there also may be a second special legislative session before the end of the year. Lawmakers had one in October to deal with job creation.”
And state Attorney General George Jepson said at yesterday’s news conference that his office will join that investigation:
“Governor Malloy and I spoke this morning and we agreed that it made sense for attorneys in my office to work with Witt Associates to assess the information as it is developed. The purpose of this joint review is to ensure that the interests of the State and the citizens of this State are adequately protected.
“It would be irresponsible of me to stand before you today and speculate as to what, if any, action my office will take as a result of this review. Rest assured, however, the review will be thorough, thoughtful, and searching. I will vigorously pursue the evidence and consider all legal theories.
“I have already asked the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to expand its current investigation of Connecticut Light & Power Co.’s response to Hurricane Irene, to include an investigation of the response to the October 29th storm. As a complement to that request, I will also work with the Governor’s Office and Witt Associates.
“Right now, today, the priority is to restore power to everyone in Connecticut. Thank you.”
I would like to see an investigation on how much money NU and CL&P spent on lobby and public relations activities in the last 20 years and who were their largest recipients. Another investigation should be done on what the DPUC should have done to actually regulate the state’s largest utility.
Daniel C. Esty
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CL&P has exhibited the supreme arrogance matched only by GM in years past. For years now, every time crews from out-of-state were called in, CL&P has been warned of the serious tree/wire situation in CT. How did they respond? They trimmed the tree/line maintenance budget. No, Bozos, trim the trees–not the maintenance budget! Better yet, start a multi-year program to bury the lines and get rid of the poles. And it’s not just the Management Suite Bozos. Yesterday it was reported that as many as 5 crews sat in a parking lot in Bloomfield for 12 hours. At $47/hr/each. Why?? No one told us where to go….so the corruption reaches from Executive Suite to Crew Chief. We need a complete make-over of CL&P. New owners, new management, new employees, new agenda. Otherwise, Connecticut will remain America’s Newest Third World State.
Heck of a job, Brownie!!
Another issue to examine is whether or not the state treasury has invested in CL&P stock, and if so, how much? I’m not sure they’ve done this, but they might. The state shouldn’t be investing in any company whose industry they regulate.
Good point, it’s Northeast Utilities stock though. I recommend that everyone dump the stock and buy similar utility stock that have similar dividends.
Stocks aren’t going to be affected at all. Jeff Butler already said that the rate-payers, not the investors, will bear the cost of clean-up for both Irene and this storm. Somehow seems quite unfair – we have to pay extra to be our of power for a week but the stockholders don’t lose anything. I thought part of owning stock was taking the chance that the business might lose money when things went wrong.
Wait until a Cat 2-3 hurricane rolls over New England … Maybe then New England will wake up.
How to restore power more quickly:
1. Do a hasty job at first and move on to the next job. After everyone has power back then come back and finish up the work to withstand snow and last longer.
2. Mark dead wires as dead so independent tree cutting crews can get going on clearing the fallen trees and branches.
3. Allow the power company to hire its own flagmen to direct traffic rather than use policemen.