When Will Power Be Back In CT? Eversource, UI Provide Estimates

CONNECTICUT — Eversource estimated nearly all power outages from Tropical Storm Isaias will be repaired by the end of Tuesday, while United Illuminating expects the majority of customers still without power Friday will have it restored by the end of Saturday.

UI is calling in workers from its sister company in Maine; currently there are 580 UI and mutual aid crews working in the state. Power restoration for UI territory should be substantially complete by the end of Monday. UI restored power to about 50,000 customers as of Thursday afternoon.

“We appreciate how challenging this extended outage is for our customers, especially with so many people home during the pandemic,” said Tony Marone, UI’s president and CEO. “We understand it may not be welcome news that some customers may still be without service this weekend. We ask customers to plan accordingly.”

Eversource estimated it will make significant progress by the end of the weekend and have its restoration substantially complete by Tuesday at 11:59 p.m., with many customers restored before that time. Substantially complete means less than 1 percent of customers are still without power.

The storm caused the second-largest power outage in the state’s recent history. Gov. Ned Lamont called for the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to conduct an investigation into Eversource and United Illuminating’s response to the storm. Lamont was particularly critical of Eversource's response.

UI has provided some power restoration estimates on its website.

Eversource customers can check the status of their outage online, though in most cases the company hasn’t provided restoration estimates yet.

So far, Eversource has restored power to about 332,000 customers, said Craig Hallstrom, president of Eversource electric operations.

Many restorations were made primarily through the use of remote smart switching, where Eversource technicians can remotely route power through other systems to circumvent damaged areas.

There were 450 line crews and 235 tree crews working in the state Wednesday and that number is expected to double by the end of Thursday as the company pulls in more out-of-state workers, Hallstrom said.

Eversource still has 526,000 outages.

Lamont appeared frustrated at the situation during his Wednesday news conference.

“That’s not good enough for me,” he said about the restorations so far. He urged Eversource to bring in crews from outside of the New England region and to perhaps look to the Midwest, which didn’t have to deal with the storm.

He questioned why out-of-state crews weren’t positioned in Connecticut in days prior. He was also frustrated that Connecticut continues to experience widespread outages during storms despite hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in the grid by utility companies since Superstorm Sandy.

Lamont also said he was concerned that workers who have been working remotely during the pandemic may be forced to return to their offices if they don’t have power.

“But 10 years later this is one of the worst outages we’ve ever had, and to be blunt I don’t see much progress made for all the investments we made,” he said.

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Lamont asked PURA to look into whether the utilities were prepared and had the resources to deal with the storm, if their response met regulatory requirements, and to determine if the companies put in enough resources into their outage response system given the recent failures.

Beside the power outages, there were more than 50 state roads that were closed or partially closed due to downed trees and wires. State Department of Transportation crews were working around the clock to clear debris. DOT reminded motorists to follow the rules when a traffic signal isn’t working properly — a signal that is out should be treated as a four-way stop sign; flashing yellow can proceed with caution; and flashing red is treated as a stop sign.

Many more local roads remained closed.

See also: CT Power Outages Town-By-Town: 592,000 Without Power

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