Ellington First Selectman Demands Restitution From Eversource

ELLINGTON, CT — First Selectman Lori Spielman has sent a letter to the top executive of Eversource Energy, demanding restitution of expenses incurred by the town of Ellington in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaias due to the utility company's "total lack of preparedness and inadequate response time" to the town's citizens and business owners.

The letter, dated Sept. 1 and addressed to chairman, president and CEO James Judge, criticizes the utility's "inability to restore power in a respectable and reasonable time," as well as a lack of communication with local authorities.

Due to the storm, the costs incurred by Ellington taxpayers exceeded $100,000, about $80,000 of which Spielman says "could have been avoided had Eversource repaired downed electrical wires and restored power outages in a timely manner, as we expected."

Spielman's letter concludes with a demand that "reimbursement be made to the Town of Ellington in the sum of $70,000.00 in restitution of damages incurred by the Town of Ellington."

Eversource spokesman Mitch Gross said, "We understand the hardships our customers and towns experienced during such a devastating storm. We do not agree with the premise of the letter, because we completed a safe restoration that was faster than our response to Storms Sandy and Irene even though we sustained more damage than those two catastrophic storms."

The full text of Spielman's letter is below.

September 1, 2020

James Judge, Chairman, President and CEO
Eversource Energy
800 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02199

RE: Demand for Payment-Reimbursement regarding Tropical Storm Isaias, Costs Incurred Due to the Failed Response from Eversource

Dear Mr. Judge,

As you are well aware, The Town of Ellington is recovering from the damage brought on by Tropical Storm Isaias, as are multiple towns across the state. While this storm was devastating in and of itself, it seems to have been significantly worsened by the total lack of preparedness and inadequate response time to our residents and business owners. Eversource, unfortunately has lost Ellington taxpayers’ trust in their inability to restore power in a respectable and reasonable time. While our Town sustained thousands of power outages for a significant number of hot summer days, the communication, or rather the lack of, was an unnecessary factor and absolutely unacceptable.

Due in part to the lack of assistance from Eversource in keeping our residents safe and minimizing injury, the costs incurred by the Town’s tax paying residents over several days were substantial; currently exceeding over $100,000.00. Approximately 70% or nearly $80,000.00 of these costs could have been avoided had Eversource repaired downed electrical wires and restored power outages in a timely manner, as we expected. This inadequacy and lack of preparedness is inexcusable and will not be tolerated by our community.

The health and safety of Ellington residents during outages such as this is always our utmost and immediate priority. During Tropical Storm Isaias, Eversource’s power outage hotline went down, causing 911 dispatch centers to be significantly overwhelmed; in addition our residents and businesses, some of which depend on life-sustaining and life-saving electrical power typically provided by Eversource, were at high risk. Our Department of Public Works crews waited patiently each day to assist line crews and clear our roads so that our residents could

travel safely to and from their homes and access medical care, but were left with little to no communication; not to mention the information our crews did receive was from an officer also waiting at a scheduled site, not Eversource themselves. This neglect on Eversource’s part should never have happened, as it was previously agreed upon that clearing crews and power would be provided as promised in the fundamental emergency response protocol set in place.

Clearly put, Eversource failed us in virtually every aspect of its response to Tropical Storm Isaias. In addition to this lack of trust and confidence of reliability from Eversource, our community has seen a dramatic increase in the rates and charges making this even more inexcusable.

As power has now been restored, and we begin the process of regaining trust and confidence in Eversource in the future, on behalf of the tax payers of the Town of Ellington, I demand that reimbursement be made to the Town of Ellington in the sum of $70,000.00 in restitution of damages incurred by the Town of Ellington.

Respectfully,

Lori L. Spielman
First Selectman

Cc: Town of Ellington Board of Selectmen Members:
James M. Prichard, Deputy First Selectman
David E. Stavens
Sarah D. Cook
Melinda M. Ferry
Ronald F. Stomberg
John W. Turner
Joseph Palombizio, Emergency Management Director, Town of Ellington
Timothy Webb, Director of Public Works, Town of Ellington
Honorable Ned Lamont, Governor, State of Connecticut
Honorable Joe Courtney, United States Congressman, 2nd Congressional District
Honorable Richard Blumenthal, United States Senator, State of Connecticut
Honorable Christopher Murphy, United States Senator, State of Connecticut
Honorable Daniel A. Champagne, State Senator, 35th District
Honorable Norm Needleman, State Senator and Chairman, Energy and Technology Committee
Honorable Saud Anwar, State Representative, 3rd District
Attorney Marissa Paslick Gillett, Chairman Public Utilities Regulator Authority (PURA)
Joe DeLong, Executive Director and CEO, Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM)
Dori Famiglietti, Town Attorney, Town of Ellington

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