Nearly 35,000, or 2.7%, of statewide Eversource customers were still without power this morning, with the hardest hit municipalities in Fairfield County.
As of 7 a.m., Danbury led the way with 5,167 outages, followed by Ridgefield with 3,277. Others with at least 1,000 customers still in the dark were Bethel (2,842), Newtown (2,501), Wilton (1,746), Westport (1,645), Brookfield (1,392), New Canaan (1,299), Stamford (1,125) and Monroe (1,121).
The utility still claims that all restoration of power will be “substantially complete” ”“ meaning less than 1% of its customers will still be without electricity ”“ by 11:59 tonight.
During a news conference last night, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton doubted those estimates. “Is Eversource going to have your lights on tomorrow night at midnight? I don’t know. I’m not confident of that,” he said. “I will tell you most likely, no. I will tell you, ‘Maybe by Friday’.”
United Illuminating, the state”™s other major electrical supplier, said that 208, or 1%, of its customers were without power as of this morning; the hardest hit was Fairfield, with 51.
For all of the relatively good news ”“ an estimated 1 million outages were caused by Tropical Storm Isaias, which hit Connecticut a week ago today ”“ state and city leaders are still pressing for major changes at the Boston-based company.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal renewed his call for the resignation of Eversource Chairman, President and CEO James J. Judge, as well as a general restructuring of the utility, which he suggested could include the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA)”™s breaking up the company.
The Connecticut Democrat further said that Eversource should provide refunds to customers and hold off on rate increases and/or charges for restoring power ”“ something the utility has said it will have to do in the wake of Isaias. The senator said he had met with Judge to discuss implementing those measures; the Eversource boss declined, Blumenthal said.
Gov. Ned Lamont said yesterday that changes to how utilities are compensated by the state were needed, which would include penalties and fines in instances like Isaias, whose scale and impact apparently surprised Eversource despite days of warnings. Using metrics like how well prepared a utility is for major weather-related events and how quickly it can restore power would provide incentives currently not in place, he said.
Lamont and Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes, who used to chair PURA, said PURA could make such changes without legislative approval.
PURA has opened two investigations into Eversource: One over its handling of Isaias, and another over surprise rate increases that went into effect on July 1, which the agency has suspended.
