Courtney: Norwich Utility Should Be Standard For Storm Response

CONNECTICUT — U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-2) visited Norwich Public Utilities Tuesday to learn more about the public utility's response to Tropical Storm Isaias. NPU got power back to 99 percent of their customers within two days and 100 percent were back after four days.

“Norwich Public Utilities is providing better service at a lower rate, and PURA has got to examine why that is as they move forward with their investigation into Eversource’s lackluster response to Tropical Storm Isaias,” said Rep. Courtney, following the meeting. “The after-action report we received from NPU today was powerful. They moved with speed and strength to get restoration efforts underway—in fact, they wound up providing four of their trucks to assist Eversource after they were done."

Courtney is urging the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to look to NPU as the standard for storm response as they evaluate the response of publicly-traded companies Eversource and United Illuminating.

Eversource in particular has come under fire for their response to the storm by Connecticut politicians. The utility took a week to get to substantial restoration levels where all but the most complicated outages were resolved.