The lights are back on today for most Fairfield County residents, but that doesn”™t mean the brouhaha over Eversource”™s delayed response to Tropical Storm Isaias has subsided.
As of this morning, Eversource reports that just under 1,400 customers statewide are still in the dark, representing 0.11% of those who have been without power since last Tuesday. That is better than the 1% the utility promised by 11:59 p.m. last night ”“ but still not close enough for Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.
Danbury, which was hardest hit in the area, still has a 0.66% rate of outages, equal to about 250 customers. Boughton is threatening a lawsuit against Eversource over its performance, with other municipal leaders mulling similar moves.
“All we”™ve gotten from Eversource is broken promises and broken discussions about what will happen next,” Boughton said at a press conference yesterday. “They failed in epic proportions. This is our fifth storm together. It”™s not getting better, it”™s gotten worse. Don”™t let them spin this and tell you it”™s gotten better ”“ it hasn”™t.
“Monopoly”™s a great game ”“ but it”™s simply a board game,” he continued. “It doesn”™t work when you”™re trying to deliver life-saving services to our residents.”
Newtown First Selectman Dan Rosenthal is among other municipal leaders calling for change.
“I told Governor (Ned) Lamont the other day that more than transportation, reliable power is critical to living and doing business in our state,” Rosenthal said in a taped call to Newtown residents last night. “Until now, the bar has been set ridiculously low and week-long power outages have become acceptable. I am not okay with this any more than you are.
“Elected officials and regulators have let this slide by,” he continued. “This has to change. We can”™t lose this moment and I will work with my counterparts in other communities as well as leadership in Hartford to make it clear that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result isn”™t acceptable.
“Power outages will happen but they don”™t need to be eternal,” Rosenthal said.
The area”™s other major electrical supplier, United Illuminating, is saying fewer than 20 of its customers are still without power this morning, putting it well under the 1% it too had promised by midnight.
Nevertheless, both utilities are facing intense scrutiny by the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), which has opened investigations into their reactions to the storm.
In addition, Attorney General William Tong is pushing to be officially included in the PURA investigation, saying: “I will use the full weight of my authority throughout this investigation to hold Eversource and UI accountable for this stunning failure.”
