OP-ED | Still Stuck in the Dark
by Susan Bigelow | Nov 4, 2011 9:01am
(8) Comments | Commenting has expired
Posted to: Energy, Opinion, Weather
At first it seemed like an adventure. We lit our candles and huddled with the cats in bed, living by the light of our dying phones. But as the hours turned to days, the power never came back. The house got colder and colder. We retreated to the basement, where it was a balmy 59 degrees instead of the 50 it was upstairs. I cleared brush in the yard. We boiled water on the grill, and showered in the shelter at the high school nearby. We’ve waited in line for gas, and marveled at Big Y selling milk. Milk! Every time we come home, I look at the street lights, hoping. Still nothing. Six days have passed.
We go to work to get warm, and to charge up our phones. Nights are frigid, mornings unbearable. We worry about candles. We worry about the money we’re spending on emergency supplies and hot food. We refresh the CL&P outage list relentlessly, hoping and hoping that we’ll be next. Tomorrow, we think every night, huddled together in a cold bed. Tomorrow it’ll come back. So far it hasn’t.
For days we drove through a darkened, powerless town, without even traffic lights. When finally we could drive out to Hazard Ave. and see a red light staring down at us it felt like a kind of victory. Streets near ours lit up, but our row of houses remained dark. We have no explanation of why. I’ve only seen two power crews, and they were busy driving somewhere else. Six days today.
I’m cold and tired. Staying warm and living in a constant state of crisis have absolutely drained me. People in Massachusetts, where I work, probably are wondering what’s wrong with me when I come in grumpy and disheveled every day. And why not? Their power has largely been on for days. The border between Massachusetts and Connecticut, between the Western Mass. Electric Company and CL&P, has never felt more real than this week.
People are angry and frustrated. I know I am. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if this hadn’t happened to the other half of the state only a few months ago during Hurricane Irene, but it did. The excuses are wearing thin. We get no good information from CL&P. I’m relying on Enfield Mayor Scott Kaupin’s Facebook page these days for news. Scott’s been doing a great job relaying information to the people of the town, but there’s only so much he can do. The power company has a detailed plan I’m sure, but they’re not bothering to tell anyone, even the mayor, what it is.
Meanwhile the face of CL&P, COO Jeff Butler, continues to alienate everyone at press conferences, Gov. Malloy gets progressively snappish and grumpy, and we’re told only that they plan on having 99 percent of power back for everyone by Sunday night. I’m having a hard time believing it.
The political fallout and finger pointing has already begun. There’s talk of fining CL&P if they don’t meet their Sunday target. There are so many questions. Why weren’t they better prepared? Why hasn’t basic maintenance, like tree trimming, been done? Is the lackluster response from other states because CL&P failed to pay out-of-state crews for their help during Irene? Why does the company have 245 fewer linemen now than they did a few years ago? Why are our electric rates so high if this is the level of service we receive? Why do their executives make so much money? What is CL&P (and parent Northeast Utilities) anyway? Are they a state utility, a private company, a lazy monopoly, or something else? To whom are they accountable, if anyone?
But the biggest question remains: when is my power coming back on? I’m on Glendale Road in Enfield. Please. It’s been six cold, dark days. We’re cold and tired. I’m hoping maybe we’re next. Maybe someone knows if we are, somewhere; though if they do they aren’t saying.
Susan Bigelow is the former owner of CTLocalPolitics and an author. She lives in Enfield with her wife and cats.
Tags: susan bigelow, cl&p, northeast utilities, power outage, connecticut
(8) Comments
posted by: Shawnzo | November 5, 2011 1:30pm
I want an analysis of how much money they “saved” by laying of those linemen and women, how much our rates have risen, and the grand total of the execs bonuses during the same time period!
posted by: NOW What? | November 5, 2011 2:20pm
UI and CL & P/NE Utilities (and soon to also be NStar I’m sure) are nothing more than for-profit corporations that get paid to deliver electricity to homes and businesses, and to a somewhat lesser extent either procure the actual electricity either from (generally for-profit) power generating companies, themselves, their own subsidiaries, or other other companies altogether.
If Connecticut’s citizens and businesses truly want to see less expensive electricity bills, more reliable service, faster resumption of power in the wake of major storms, and better customer service, they will *have* to stop making the false assumption that their electric system has to just continue “as is” and that their electricity delivery system, “as is,” will somehow magically get better through nothing more than wishful magical thinking and political pronouncements. That won’t change ANYTHING.
Mr. Cafero’s request for a special legislative session ASAP, and Mr. Witt’s admirable offer to provide the State with an objective assessment pro bono, will be useful for short and mid-term problem solving. But the facts of the matter are that UI is horribly antiquated, and Northeast Utilities is driven solely by profit and stock pricing. Thus over the long term, Connecticut must re-think its whole strategy. The ultimate solution for providing more reliable electric service for the least cost possible to its citizens and businesses is a combination of long-term financing for burying at least its most important major power transmission lines, finding ways to enable one or more non-profit co-ops to take over delivery of electricity and maintenance of power lines, and to facilitate the purchasing of electricity from a reliable constellation of *various* power generators on a very large scale at the lowest costs possible. There’s really no other way.
posted by: Disgruntled | November 5, 2011 7:17pm
Poor dear.
You live in a state that believes,just because it has a small number of very wealthy people,it is “wealthy”.
Ever since I was a young lad,I knew NU was one of THE WORST utility companies in America. Living here has proved the veracity of that lesson.
In a state,the size of a postage stamp,utilties should never be a worry in spite of crazy weather. Not the case here.
Buy a generator.
Enjoy the Fall colors as we segue into Winter and THINK BEFORE YOU VOTE!
posted by: perturbed | November 5, 2011 8:00pm
If it’s any consolation, you have lots of company. You pretty much summed up my week, too. And my anger.
The 24” diameter white pine that did the damage has been cut into a few long lengths and shoved off the power lines now, but the pole it snapped into three pieces has been left strewn on the ground where it fell. That probably means it wasn’t a CL&P crew that came by. I haven’t seen one in my town yet.
A few hundred feet from the splintered pole is another set of wires downed by fallen tree limbs, The next block over still looks far worse, with roads still barely passable through the fallen trees.
It certainly is hard to believe all will be right in our neighborhood by tomorrow night. I’m hoping they get our power on by next Wednesday. Rain is forecast for Thursday and Friday, which will hamper the restoration efforts, possibly pushing us into two full weeks without power.
Wonder where we’d be now if every single one of the last seven days hadn’t been such perfect weather for line work.
By a couple of third hand accounts, southern linemen have been marveling at how run-down and antiquated our electric service is, and how disorganized the CL&P restoration efforts are.
—perturbed
posted by: phan | November 6, 2011 12:30am
Friend of mine is CT lineman for CL&P…he has been told its cheaper to pay their OT rather than hire more linemen. Their dept. is more than 1/2 of what it was when Gloria hit. Can you imagine how frustrated they are to work for this company?
posted by: barbdwyer | November 6, 2011 8:30am
this is why we need MORE govt. regulation of essential services. cl&p is only interested in a profit, not servicing the BASIC needs of its customers.
posted by: Susan Jane Bigelow | November 6, 2011 1:37pm
At this point we’re still out of power. I wrote this Friday, it’s Sunday today and now we hear CL&P will blow its deadline. I can’t blame the line crews, they’re working so incredibly hard, but the management needs to be held accountable.
posted by: perturbed | November 6, 2011 5:03pm
We’re still out, too. Tomorrow’s new “99%” target date is a pipe dream, and Wednesday’s “100%” target is even more ridiculous. CL&P still hasn’t been to our neighborhood yet.
The shattered pole is still on the ground. Now I hear, third hand through the police department that they’re out of poles! Who knows how long it will take to get more poles, and where they will be sent first. Not that it matters here yet. The first step is clearing the trees, and they can’t even get to that.
The linemen aren’t to blame, but CL&P and their parent company are.
I hope we’ll have power by this time next Sunday, but right now I’d give it 50-50 odds.
—perturbed