Connecticut, We Need a Policy-Driven Response to Hurricane Isaias

Just a sample of the damage which Connecticut has faced since Hurricane Isaias

Over the last four days, since Hurricane Isaias has hit Connecticut, I’ve had the opportunity to connect with fellow residents all over the state and have substantial discussions about what changes must occur in light of this historic storm. It seems like every five years our state faces a “historic” weather event which limits our access to power and inhibits our ability to easily move about.

We can be as furious as we want to be, but until concrete concepts are on the table, the change we seek will not come. After several rounds of discussions, a theme started to emerge — Accountability & Reform. Six policy action items kept on coming up in one form or another. Here are the policy recommendations and potential actions our leaders could take:

1. 100 Hour “Limit” on our Utility Companies — Set a time limit of 100 hours (just over four days) for utility companies to get to substantial restoration; every additional ¼ of a day a fine (to be determined in consultation with PURA - Public Utilities Regulatory Authority - and the General Assembly) shall be assessed. The fine may not be passed onto to ratepayers in future statements. Include an emergency clause that waives the time limit. The wavier must then be signed by the Governor, the Commissioner of DEEP, the Chair of PURA, and the Chair and the Vice-Chair of the General Assembly’s Energy and Technology Committee. This ensures that ratepayers have a say in the wavier process and can hold these officials accountable at the ballot box if they deem the wavier not appropriate.
2. Strictly Enforce the Estimated Time of Restoration (ETR) Timeframe — PURA must strictly enforce the 48-hour ETR deadline, with the threat of fines for every additional two hours in which a plan is not filed. Once again, these fines may not be passed onto ratepayers in future statements.
3. Upgrade to Communications Systems — Connecticut’s public utilities need to invest in themselves. The communication systems — outage map, text/phone capabilities, and social media response — was sorely lacking during this weather event. Ratepayers could contribute to this, as this service would be beneficial to them in an outage situation.
4. Re-engage in Tree Trimming and Transmission Line Locations — The State of Connecticut, must reengage in discussions revolving around (a) tree-trimming and (b) the location of power lines. Back in 2011, Governor Malloy invested in a tree-trimming program; Governor Lamont should call for this program to be restarted. There are ways to still ensure the beauty of our state while making sure we avoid another incident where residents are without power for over 100 hours. Connecticut should also examine the feasibility of converting some of our power lines to underground transmission lines depending on community input, financial impact, and additional contributing factors.
5. Strengthen Consumer Hands — Regulations should be put in place to strengthen the hands of consumers by enacting a credit/proration policy when service is not rendered. The credit should then be assessed on the following month’s statement.
6. Preparation is the Key to Success — PURA must review the preparation plans for each company and ensure there are multiple approaches to every potential situation. Eversource has admitted that they planned for a level 4 event (only 375,000 outages); while the Chair of PURA has said that Isasis was, “on the high end of level 3”. If new regulations need to be put in place to ensure compliance the General Assembly should take such action.

Residents would be a lot more understanding, if the companies were forthright and “attacked” this situation head-on. The lack of communication and crisis management from executives has been awful - mind-boggling to say the least.

In summary, the fix to many of our woes can be answered with nuanced policy solutions. Ever since I became engaged, “in the arena” we call politics, there is one over-arching principle which I have always held near — be pragmatic. There is always a policy solution, which a majority of people can rally behind, and I believe these six are a start in the right direction!