Eversource Appeals State Fine Over Isaias Performance

CONNECTICUT — Eversource Energy has appealed a $31 million fine levied by state regulators over its response to Tropical Storm Isaias last summer, accusing the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority of trying to stifle "due process."

Eversource released documents related to the 136-page filing to Patch Friday. The case was filed a day earlier in New Britain Superior Court.

"Tropical Storm Isaias was a devastating storm that caused extensive damage to Connecticut's electric infrastructure," officials for the utility said in an accompanying statement. "Customers in every town we serve experienced outages — more than a million in all — yet we restored power safely and faster than in previous major storms. Our appeal addresses critical legal aspects of PURA's decision and the serious implications the decision will have on future storm response efforts. We look forward to the final resolution of this issue and we see our appeal as an important step in the process."

Eversource officials said in the filing that also said PURA's decision is based — for the first time — on state laws that are not "time-tested," and "were not previously subject to judicial review."

The fine was deemed "unreasonable," by Eversource officials, who also said it "appeared without warning." No opportunity was presented to Eversource to offer evidence supporting its storm response, according to the filing.

Officials in the filing also accused PURA of trying to bypass its "constitutional rights to appeal." According to the filing, state regulators failed to ask Eversource for "evidence or briefings" or if penalties were warranted.

Utility officials said in the filing that PURA was also to consider financial penalties in a separate phase of its proceeding related to Isaias.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong was quick to endorse the fine, the maximum civil fine allowed by state law.

The proposal dictates that Eversource give back more than $28 million to ratepayers in the form of credits and pay a penalty to the state.

"Eversource failed its customers and put Connecticut families at risk after Tropical Storm Isaias. I fought for swift, severe penalties from the beginning, and this penalty is appropriate. Eversource must pay for their failures," Tong said at the time "This penalty is a strong first step to hold Eversource accountable for their disastrous performance, but this matter is far from over. We will continue to fight before PURA to ensure that Eversource cannot put the full cost of their failures back on ratepayers."

Eversource responded by saying at the time, "While our employees worked tirelessly to restore power as quickly as possible, we recognize the hardships our customers and communities experienced, and we acknowledge there are areas for improvement. We are working – and will continue to work – in good faith with our communities, customers and regulators to improve our performance. "

In a preceding ruling this spring PURA found did not "meet certain acceptable performance standards in preparing for, and responding to Tropical Storm Isaias."

Isaias left more than 1 million Connecticut residents and businesses without power for an extended period in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and and a summer heat wave.

The PURA investigation considered more than 500 written comments from the public, including 48 sets of comments from public officials, all of which expressed "universal frustration" with the power companies' response to Isaias.