Eversource, Blumenthal Verbally Sparring As Elsa Draws Near

CONNECTICUT — Eversource and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal Thursday were in a verbal boxing match as the utility and residents of Connecticut braced for Tropical Storm Elsa.

Blumenthal struck the first jab when, in an afternoon Twitter post, he said, "Another Eversource tropical storm failure is inexcusable. The people of CT cannot tolerate another repeat of millions of outages for days on end. Eversource must put people before profits and ensure an effective response to this storm."

The Tweet was preceded by a letter to Eversource President and Chief Executive Office Joseph R. Nolan, Jr., sent earlier in the day.

Nolan wasted no time in sending a retort to the senator and his letter to Blumenthal was copied to media outlets.

Here is its transcript:

"Dear Senator:

Thank you for your letter today regarding Tropical Storm Elsa and its path to Connecticut. We greatly appreciate your interest as we know that you are a strong advocate for the State of Connecticut and its residents and businesses. We are ready to respond. The interests of our customers are foremost and will be served well over the next few days as we deal with the electrical damage that is likely to be caused by this weather system.

There are three points made in your letter to which I must respond.

"First, your letter states that “following today’s weather reports,” Eversource should be staging crews and mobilizing equipment. I would like to assure you that our preparations for this event are intensive and started last week, not today. Our emergency response organization has stayed on top of the track of the storm since it came into existence. We have brought in hundreds of additional line crews to assist with restoration. We are pre-positioning equipment and crews at our work centers around the state. We cannot stop the storm from causing outages, but we are ready to respond to those outages.

"Second, your letter references the fact that there were more than 25,000 customers without power across the State of Connecticut on Tuesday due to the ongoing thunderstorms we have experienced. While preparing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa, we restored power to tens of thousands of affected customers quickly and safely, although your letter does not reference this fact. We received grateful acknowledgement from many customers who did experience outages – the bulk of which were resolved overnight as customers slept.

"Third, your letter states that “Eversource has professional crews to expertly repair lines and restore power but these important employees have received fewer resources than are necessary to adequately respond to storm damage.” It is not clear what this refers to, but this is not accurate. Our highly specialized field employees are fully trained and equipped to deal with the challenges of high-voltage power restoration and do so with great skill and courage. A serious concern for us is that customer anxiety rises when fears or false expectations are raised about the restoration of service following a major storm and this agitation rolls over to our valued teams in the field. We must work together to protect the interests of these extraordinary employees so that their efforts on behalf of customers are not impaired by unwarranted public perceptions.

"Lastly, we have an incredibly experienced management team on the ground, following the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) National Incident Management Structure for incident command. Alongside the Eversource Incident Command leaders, I have worked storms throughout the past 30 years as a utility employee and this storm is no different. I welcome you to join me in the field tomorrow once the storm has passed so that you can see the dedication and skill of our employees in person and hear from them about the circumstances that they encounter in the field as they work to restore power to our customers.

"Thank you for your continued dedication to the State of Connecticut and interest in our efforts to respond to Tropical Storm Elsa."

Before Nolan sent the letter to Blumenthal, he called the senator's comments "rabble-rousing" and said they "create unnecessary fear for our customers."

Nolan said the utility has brought in "hundreds" of extra line workers since Sunday.

"And it’s important to note that we did all this while at the same time responding to this week’s thunderstorms and restoring power to 80-thousand customers quickly and safely," Nolan said. "We cannot stop the storm from causing outages, but we can be ready to respond – and we are."