CL&P's Response In Stamford and Beyond
A review of CL&P's handling of its mass-outages following last weekend's storm.
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A week after the surprise "Noreaster" snownstorm that left over 830,000 Connecticut residents without power, over 360,000 Connecticut residents still haven't had their power restored, leading locals to wonder if CL&P is dealing well with a difficult situation or just performing poorly.
"Over 200 CL&P line and tree crews are working to restore power to customers affected by outages and the company is in the process of securing additional help...as was predicted, the heavy, wet snow is weighing down the trees and creating issues across the state," CL&P Al Roy manager of Emergency Management said in a Sunday press release. "Our crews and support staff continue to respond as the storm moves through and we are communicating with town and state officials to coordinate efforts...we appreciate our customers patience."
By this point, 8% of Stamford had lost power, which was considered a low percentage in comparison to its neighboring towns. On Monday, CL&P stated that the "damage from the storm was far more extensive than forecasted," despite their predictions of heavy, wet snow and its impact on power lines and CL&P's own grids.
"The Connecticut Department of Transportation estimates that tree damage is five times greater than Irene. Peak outages were about 831,000 throughout the electrical system. As of 8:45 p.m., service has been restored to more than 110,000 customers," CL&P stated in a Monday press release.
By this point, much of Connecticut had been without power for at least 48 hours.
"Many areas of the state, particularly in the northwest and north central parts of Connecticut (generally north and west of Interstate 84) still have roads blocked and areas inaccessible to crews, slowing assessment processes and restoration efforts," CL&P said on Monday.
By Tuesday, the Stamford Advocate reported that Gov. Malloy himself was "underwhelmed" with CL&P's response to the October snowstorm. Since Tuesday, CL&P became sparse with press releases, and CL&P customers seeking to gather more information from CL&P about outages received only voice messages when attempting to contact CL&P.
Several Stamford neighborhoods which regained power on Monday lost power again for early eight hours on Tuesday.
"Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) and mutual aid crews continued making progress on Thursday, restoring power to over 572,000 customers since last weekend's snowstorm. As of 9:30 p.m., about 361,000 CL&P customers remain without power," a late-Thursday CL&P press release states.
CL&P currently estimates that Stamford's power restoration is over 99% complete, with only 73 homes still without power almost a week after the onset of the surprise Noreaster storm.
However, some Fairfield County regions, such as Ridgefield and Redding, are reported to still have customer outage percentages as high as 55%.
Bruce Douglas
8:01 am on Friday, November 4, 2011
What a bunch of incompetant administrative leaders in both our government, and CL&P. After just two months after Irene, not one was thing learned. Simply amazing and disgusting.
A state with some of the highest taxes, and by far one of the highest in the country for Utilites, and this is what we get for service. Shame on the government of Connecticut, and the corporate leaders of these Utlility companies with their "fat" bonuses. Laws have to be initiated to hold these so-called leaders responible from now on. Perhaps a Class Action Lawsuit brought against those responsible for this total screwup?
Bruce Douglas(a disgusted resident)
Ellington
virginia brown
8:07 am on Friday, November 4, 2011
I would like to know if our "great" governor lost any power, I doubt it. How would he like to live 7+ days without power & heat. Did he lose all his food in his refrig?? Probably not. He should spend his nights in a cold house & then maybe he can understand how the rest of Connecticut feels. I bet Governor Rell would have had more compasion for the tax payers!!
Very disgusted with the leadership of this state
Virginia Brown
Southbury, CT
Donald Sargeant
5:26 pm on Friday, November 4, 2011
What I think is interesting a power that has rates that are almost the highest in the country, hasn't payed its bills from the outage.
Mary Simpson
7:09 pm on Friday, November 4, 2011
Almost into day 7, I am STILL without power. Intresting, three houses and myself still have no power while the rest of the houses on my street have power. We have called and called and called and we keep getting the same response from CL&P "We are working on it". Hard to believe as we haven't seen ONE utility truck checking to see WHY some of us have NO POWER while the rest do. Really surprising as we pay one of the HIGEST taxes in the country and the highest utility fees. I certainly am NOT seeing any results here.
One VERY upset resident along with several horses!
Resident in Stamford
Michael Dinan
7:15 pm on Friday, November 4, 2011
Mary where do you live?
Mary Simpson
7:21 pm on Friday, November 4, 2011
Farms Rd in Stamford, CT.
Stephen Gladstone
8:18 pm on Friday, November 4, 2011
Just one word guys... monopoly. They have it all sewn up and do not care if your ice cream melts or your steak defrosts. They are in this for the money... so they will apologize and hope you pay your bill... I believe they own stock in the major generator companies as well!
CPBD
7:53 am on Saturday, November 5, 2011
Cut down trees next to the transmission wires or bury them. Either way cost money, especially burying the lines. But if they are buried, no storm power outages. Trimming more trees helped, obviously but I find folks have short memories bc on a sunny day in the summer, they are more apt to lament power company tree trimming. We cannot have it both ways folks. Either trim the trees or go buy yourself a generator like I did.
Bill
11:33 am on Saturday, November 5, 2011
I am not a utility expert, but this is what I've gathered so far in respect to the most recent storm Debacle. 1. Cl&P has not yet paid for the out of state services from Irene. 2. CL&P did not implement any of the suggestions by Redding's First Selectman re: Irene. 3. CL&P has cut its work for by 20% over the last 10 years despite increase in demand. 4. CL&P became deregulated during the 90's. To me, this means raise rates. Cut services. 5. It is my understanding that repair vehicles are being held up at 'Weigh' stations on 95. Yes, we need more buearocracy.
6. 4 people have died so far. It could have been avoided. 7. I've seen scores of CL&P trucks drive right by my house on 53, yet non stop to repair anything. Why?
Also, I have some questions that I have yet to get have answers to.
1. If the CL&P trucks repaired half of Redding, why wouldnt they remain and complete the job? 2. How is it decided what towns get prioritized? 3. What agency is responsible for clearing the trees and wires off the roads? 4. Fairfield County does not have one person or agency to head disaster efforts. Shouldn't we have that?
Finally, Jeff Butler, the President of CL&P, said last night that he's been thinking long and hard whether he should apologize to CT residents, and he decided that he didn't have to, that it was a situation beyond his control. Really? If the storm was beyond his control, it's time to select someone to take over who doesn't think that it is beyond their control.