Danbury State Representative David Arconti, chair of the legislature's Energy and Technology Committee, has requested Eversource CEO James Judge to attend a hearing and investigation into the utility company. Judge has not addressed community leaders trying to navigate Eversource’s mess.
Arconti says the committee wants to find a way to deliver reliable, and affordable electricity in Connecticut. He hopes to strengthen customers confidence in Eversource by investigating not only the storm response, but also the recent distribution fee increases.
Arconti says too many residents have been struggling with the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and cannot absorb the impact of not having power for a week or longer. He's calling on Eversource and United Illuminating to reimburse ratepayers up to $500 for medication loss and $500 for food loss during this outage.
Eversource has notified investors it does not expect a “material impact” as a result of power restoration expenses. That was included in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission on Monday.
The utility has not yet issued a preliminary estimate on the cost.
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Eversource in response to the Tropical Storm. The suit, filed by 3 residents and a business owner on behalf of everyone who lost power, accused the utility of negligence, breach of contract, recklessness, and violating the Connecticut fair trade practices act.
