State officials join in anger over outages

Patrick rips utilities on the pace of repairs

November 03, 2011|By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

A crew from Comcast worked on lines in the East Forest Park neighborhood… (Photos by Matthew Cavanaugh…)

SPRINGFIELD - Amid growing public outcry over protracted power outages, Governor Deval Patrick said he had lost patience with the state’s electric companies, while the state’s leading prosecutor said her office would seek an investigation of the utilities’ performance in responding to last weekend’s snowstorm.

“People are losing their patience and so am I, frankly,’’ Patrick said. “The utilities are just going to have to step it up.’’

As customers remained without power for a fourth night, Patrick increased pressure on the utilities, which say the scope of damage has hampered recovery efforts.

Patrick had previously praised utilities’ response as “terrific,’’ but yesterday expressed frustration at the slow progress.

Patrick said he understood that the storm, which dropped more than two feet of heavy snow on Central and Western Massachusetts, caused “a tremendous amount of damage, but said “it’s been days now.’’

Attorney General Martha Coakley, meanwhile, said her office would ask state regulators to conduct an investigation into whether power companies were adequately prepared for the storm, which was forecast well beforehand, and whether they have done enough to restore electricity since.

Repairs appeared to grind on yesterday, with the number of people without power declining from 223,000 at 6 a.m. to about 170,000 at 10 last night. That included 100,477 National Grid customers, 67,934 Western Massachusetts Electric customers, and 1,622 NStar customers.

Utility companies pleaded for patience as they coped with outages they said required street-by-street repairs.

“We want to assure our customers and all public officials that we are doing everything we possibly can to restore power to the remaining customers,’’ said Jackie Barry, a spokeswoman for National Grid.

NStar said that it hoped to complete repairs for its remaining customers by this morning.

But yesterday in Springfield, where city officials said substantial portions of the city remained without power, frustration, both with Mother Nature in bringing a string of destructive weather this year, and the slow pace of repairs, had reached a breaking point.

“I’ve had it,’’ said Jim Rooney, 69. “You can only stand this for so long.’‘

Rooney lost power Sunday morning, and yesterday kept his front door open to warm his home. But progress, like the electric company, was coming slow. The thermostat read 51.

Rooney’s was a common lament. At a shelter in Springfield, where hundreds have gathered in search of warmth since losing power, many criticized the utilities.

“They could do it a lot quicker, if they were willing to spend the money,’’ said Raymond Pannell, 50. “People who say they’re doing a good job aren’t paying attention.’’

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