Last week, Eversource was being scrutinized for electric bills that were often times double what a customer typically pays. And now, the company is hearing from state and local leaders, including from Guilford, that they have also botched the response to this tropical storm.
Late Wednesday, nearly 80 percent of Guilford is still without power, while at least portions of over 50 streets, including here on West Lake Avenue, are blocked by trees and downed power lines.
That has town officials are frustrated by Eversource's perceived slow response.
There were nearly 200 storm related incidents called in in Guilford.
"I was hopeful yesterday that they would have a make safe crew working throughout the night with us," said Assistant Guilford Fire Chief Michael Shove. "We didn’t see somebody for about 18 hours after the storm came and went."
Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is requesting the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to conduct a thorough investigation of the state’s public utility companies, including Eversource and United Illuminating, amid widespread outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias that have left hundreds of thousands of customers without power.
So, why such a slow response from Eversource?
"The sheer number of damage that our system experienced from yesterday's storm is the short answer," said Frank Poirot, Spokesperson for Eversource.
Poirot says system-wide there were roughly 700,000 power outages during the peak on Tuesday. 100,000 of those had been restored by late Wednesday morning.
"We are talking about entire trees, multiple trees, coming down across the road and making it almost impossible to get near," Poirot said.
Before town public works crews can clear roads, Eversource needs to cut power to lines in the impacted area, which started happening in Guilford early Wednesday afternoon. But, some nearby communities had not yet seen Eversource as of late afternoon.
"I’m hearing calls from seniors, from people who have young children, who are just very upset about the fact that they don’t have any sort of ETA whatsoever on when their power is going to be restored," said State Rep. Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford).
Eversource says they need to finish their assessment before they can offer estimates on power restoration.
Scanlon says that's an excuse.
"We lived through Irene," he said. "We lived through Sandy. And both of those instances, we had ETA’s. We have not seen any sort of ETA whatsoever here. The first responders on the ground are telling me it’s the worst it’s ever been."
Guilford's Assistant Fire Chief believes Eversource should be held to a higher standard.
"Another public utility, like Southern Connecticut Gs Company, I think they’re mandated by the state that if an emergency happens that they’re going to be on scene within 10 to 15 minutes," Shove said.
Eversource says they have to prioritize emergency calls. But town leaders argue that every blocked road risks not being able to respond to an emergency.