Light & Dark
State Capitol
Photo credit: Steve Kotchko
Posted 11/14/11
The lights have come back on in Connecticut, after the agonizingly slow process of power restoration by the utilities—most especially Connecticut Light & Power. For now, state officials are in the dark on how to prevent a recurrence of the extended outages, 10 nights or more for many customers.
However, they are not just scratching their heads about what to do next. In fact, between government and the utilities themselves, it appears as many as nine investigations could take place, ranging from an internal review at CL&P to an inquiry by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), if a request by the Connecticut congressional delegation for a probe is granted.
At the eye of the storm, if you will, is CL&P, the state's largest electric utility, a distinction the company once took pride in, but size may now prove to be part of the firm's problem. While other smaller utilities moved with dispatch and restored power quickly after the snowstorm, CL&P struggled to get a grip on the situation.
CL&P's president Jeffrey Butler was front and center with Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy at news conferences dealing with outages after tropical storm Irene, and again after the freak Oct. 29 snowstorm that caused so much tree damage. Pressed by reporters for a hard estimate on when the restoration job would be complete, Butler said it would take a week—until midnight Sunday, Nov. 6 to get power to 99% of customers.
A few days into the restoration effort, it was clear CL&P was not getting all the out-of-state help it originally expected, and many figured because of that, Butler would back off his estimate. He did not. Instead, Butler doggedly stuck to the prediction as the week wore on. By week's end, virtually everyone else—including Malloy, dismissed the deadline.
Sunday night came and went, and tens of thousands of customers still were in the dark. Another Butler prediction, 100% restoration by Wednesday, Nov. 9 also came up short.
Malloy began to signal his frustration with CL&P and Butler, by at first leaving the news conference room when it was Butler's turn to speak, and eventually by holding his storm-related press events in the State Capitol, away from the state emergency management facility where Butler spoke. In the end, Malloy discussed the outage crisis not with Butler, but with his boss Charles Shivery, CEO of CL&P's parent firm, Northeast Utilities (NU).
The Governor described CL&P as "a greatly humbled entity—and rightly so" because of its poor performance, not only in restoring power, but in communicating and working with city and town officials as the crisis played out. Malloy said CL&P likely will be asked to make reforms and accept new standards of service. If not, said the Governor, "they do so at their own risk."
Last week, Northeast Utilities tried to do damage control for its CL&P unit. Shivery said NU would contribute $10 million to a special fund that would try to offer compensation to many customers who suffered losses in the storm. NU also said many of its crews would stick around in hard-hit communities, helping local public works departments clean up downed limbs and trees.
The financial gesture was roundly criticized by Democratic and Republican lawmakers as a pittance that fell far short. State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield), usually an ally of corporate interests in Connecticut, this time had the harshest criticism of NU. McKinney described the $10million fund as "a p-r stunt—and frankly, I think it stinks." NU said the money would come from company shareholders as well as the NU foundation. McKinney said foundation money usually goes to good causes, so he blasted NU for trying to improve its public image by taking money earmarked for charities and sending it to Connecticut.
NU said it would let Gov. Malloy's office administer the fund and decide who would be eligible for aid. Malloy initially said the state would accept the money, but has been mum since. Perhaps his staff has figured out that it will cost money to dole out money—and deciding who should get it poses a political problem.
State officials and legislative leaders seemed to be tripping over each other to set up investigation panels and committees to deal with the issues raised by the snowstorm and power outages. You can't blame them. The public is very angry about being in the cold and dark for days on end, with homeowners losing food, dealing with downed power lines, and companies losing business.
The real challenge will be collecting all the data and recommendations from the investigations and trying to come up with action steps. Don't expect CL&P or it parent firm NU to get on their knees to accept punishment. Don't be surprised if the firms fight some of the recommendations.
For example, Butler steadfastly has refused to concede that CL&P's downsizing of line and tree crews over the years to save money was a mistake. He claims the crews are sufficient for "day-to-day" coverage of outages and repairs. Butler also said many times CL&P "did some things very, very well" during the restoration process, though he never detailed what those "things" might be.
Malloy said he is open to a special session on utility reforms to get some measures into place before the winter storm season really sets in. McKinney said he'd like to see a bipartisan effort to write reforms, similar to the negotiations that led to a jobs growth bill approved by Democrats and Republicans.
More long-term measures may have to wait until the 2012 legislative session that doesn't begin until February. Then the challenge will be to determine if the public and legislative anger over the extended power outages can be maintained and turned into positive well-crafted legislation that can prevent Connecticut from slipping into the heart of darkness for days on end the next time Mother Nature throws a thunderbolt our way.