CL&P: outages could extend a week

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy arranged a meeting with officials from the U.S. Department of Energy to find ways to get more electricity and tree crews into Connecticut, as one utility executive said power outages from Tropical Storm Irene could last 10 days in some parts of the state.

Connecticut Light & Power flew in nearly 35 line crews Tuesday night from the Seattle, Wash. area and British Columbia, said Jeff Butler, president of CL&P, on a Wednesday morning conference call. As of Wednesday, CL&P had nearly 950 line and tree crews in the field, and Butler expects that number to hit 1,200 crews by Friday.

Some 300,000 CL&P customers had no power as of Wednesday; Butler said he expects that number to dip below the 100,000 mark by Saturday evening, and for power to be fully restored throughout the state by next Wednesday.

Butler cautioned that some CL&P customers could experience new outages, either from trees or limbs he said are still at risk of falling onto lines; or due to technicians cutting power to local lines in order to remove limbs or otherwise make repairs.

Butler said that CL&P began getting crew commitments a week in advance of the storm, using “mutual aid organizations” in his words that utilities use to loan out work crews and equpment in extraordinary events. Irene”™s massive size made it difficult to obtain crews from neighboring utilities in the Northeast, he added, a problem he hopes the industry can address going forward.

CL&P is currently forecasting storm recovery costs totaling $75 million. Butler said CL&P and parent Northeast Utilities have yet to address whether to recoup that money through future rate hikes, but said it was his understanding that state law would allow it.

River levels continued to rise Tuesday and Wednesday in Connecticut, posing the threat of additional damage. The Associated Press reported the Connecticut River was 23 feet above flood stage.