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State Rep. Wants Utilities To Give Rebates To Customers Who Lose Power

BOSTON (CBS) – Thousands of homes and businesses in Massachusetts are still without power, four days after Tropical Storm Irene.

Now one state legislator wants the utilities to give customers rebates.

Representative Dan Winslow of Norfolk says power companies should be forced to give customers two days worth of rebates for every day they go without electricity.

"Next week, I'm going to be making a proposal that consumers who lose their power receive a rebate for the day they lost power, but also for an additional day. Basically, two days of rebates on your power bills for every day that you lose power," he told WBZ NewsRadio 1030.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens talks to Winslow

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"One it's just a matter of basic fairness for consumers. If you lose power you certainly shouldn't pay for it that day and then, I think, having an additional day of rebate for the inconvenience of having lost power is something that seems fair."

"But it also creates a financial incentive for the utilities to really marshal the resources, to anticipate the plan, and to react more quickly, because the more quickly they react, they faster the rebate goes away."

Winslow represents six towns and he says his constituents are "buzzing mad about the lack of information" from the utility companies.

"All of the utilities had plenty of notice that this major event was coming along. In fact, it was supposed to be worse."

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