BERLIN, Connecticut — Eversource, the state's largest electrical utility provider, has released town-by-town estimates of when customers can expect their power to be restored.
The company says large numbers of crews, including out-of-state utility workers, "continue to close in on the remaining outages following the historic, widespread damage" from Tropical Storm Isaias.
Eversource says they have restored more than 740,000 customers as of Saturday afternoon. Isaias punished the state with high-force winds when it made landfall in Connecticut on Tuesday afternoon. The storm was substantially over by Tuesday evening.
You can find your town's estimated restoration time by clicking here.
“We’re grateful to the customers we serve and the community leaders with whom we’ve worked for their help, patience and understanding,” said Eversource President of Regional Electric Operations Craig Hallstrom. “We expect 90% of customers will have power on Sunday evening.”
The energy company has identified about 250 miles of downed wire to be repaired, according to a press release. It says it has also replaced more than 1,000 broken utility poles, and cleared more than 1,200 blocked roads. Utility crews from as far away as Canada, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana are also assisting.
The company recently said that they expected "substantial completion" of the restoration by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. Among the towns that are at that far end of the estimates are Cheshire, Clinton, Danbury, Hartford, Middlebury, New Canaan, Waterbury, and Wethersfield.
Other towns should be restored as soon as tomorrow include Eastford, Norfolk, and North Stonington. Stonington and Groton's restorations are already 'substantially complete'.
In a tweet, Governor Ned Lamont said the estimates "should act as deadlines" for the utility. Lamont and many local land federal officials have said the utility did not prepare adequately for the storm, and the response has been "wholly inadequate".
Eversource said they have already restored more than 740,000 customers "thanks to the around-the-clock work of more than 1,700 field crews and the use of automated technology."
Also on Saturday, State Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex) called for the resignation of Eversource CEO James J. Judge.
Needleman, the Senate Chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, called the company's response an "epic failure". "But it has been decades in the making," Needleman said, "with a dwindling on-the-ground workforce and a desire to create an almost-virtual company. Eversource has brought us to the point where we no longer have in-state resources to manage anything but the most minor event. This has been a deliberate attempt to reduce their on-the-ground workforce in favor of executive compensation and shareholder value. The rate-payers of Connecticut deserve better, especially given the outrageously high rates we pay for energy distribution services in this state."
Eversource spokesman Mitch Gross responded that "we will participate in an after-action review with regulators and community stakeholders to evaluate our approach to emergency response efforts and storm restoration. But today we’re focused on one thing – doing everything we can do to restore power to our customers."