BERLIN, Conn. — As Connecticut prepared for severe weather, many were reminded of Tropical Storm Isaias and the power outages that lasted a week. Eversource appeared in the virtual hot seat at a zoom hearing in front of the energy and technology committee to answer questions on their response to the storm and rate hikes.
"Do you feel that people are taking time out of their day to reach out to the regulators to tell PURA that you guys are doing a good job?" fired Representative David Arconti, Co-chair of the energy and technology committee.
Eversource CEO Jim Judge finally addressed the committee in a public forum. The committee questioned executives on the utility’s response to Tropical Storm Isaias, which many customers complained was too slow.
"We saw almost 30% more damage locations than Super Storm Sandy or Irene, yet we delivered the restoration faster than those storms," says Judge.
Judge and other Eversource executives continually defended the company’s response to the storm saying all 149 communities they serve were affected.
"Nobody, nobody that I'm aware of, predicted Connecticut would see a storm that would make impacts bigger than Superstorm Sandy or Irene," says Judge.
At the same time as Tropical Storm Isaias rolled through the state-- so did rate hikes. Judge claims that the average rate "went up 62 dollars. 55 of that, of the 62, had to do with usage; customer usage was up. The other seven dollars had to do with rate adjustments," says Judge.
But, FOX61 received multiple bills from viewers in July showing their bills doubling from June to July.
"You have to understand there's a general perception that the company is leveraged towards shareholders and suite executives and not towards rate payers and baseline employees," says Senator Normal Needleman, co-chair of the energy and technology committee.
Senator Needleman argues there should be an adjustment made to Eversource's corporate governing structure. Judge made 33% more in 2019 than he did in 2018 for a total of $19.8 million.