Power Outages Now Under 200,000 In Mass.

November 2, 2011 3:50 PM

Crews work to fix downed utility wires on Monday, Oct. 31, 2011.(Photo courtesy: National Grid)

Filed under

Daily Headlines, Heard On WBZ NewsRadio 1030, Local, News, Seen On WBZ-TV, Watch + Listen

BOSTON (CBS/AP) — The state’s electric utilities say they are making progress but more than 195,000 homes and businesses remain without power after last weekend’s nor’easter.

National Grid reports Wednesday that more than 117,000 of its customers are still in the dark. Chelmsford, Westford, Worcester and Northbridge are among the communities with the highest percentage of outages.

Western Massachusetts Electric Co. is reporting that more than 74,000 of its customers are without electricity, with Agawam, Longmeadow and Ludlow among the hardest hit.

WBZ-TV’s Ken MacLeod reports.

NStar said more than 3,000 of its customers don’t have power. Unitil has less than 100 outages.

Gov. Deval Patrick expressed his frustration with the power companies on Wednesday.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Karen Twomey reports.

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

At the height of the weekend storm that dropped more than two feet of snow on some parts of the state, more than 670,000 customers were without power.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Carl Stevens reports on the outages from Springfield.

(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Power Outages Now Under 200,000 In Mass.

Maggie

I live in Chelmsford and this is day 4 for me without power. Many of my neighbors have generators and the loud drones of these machines is all you hear. Not only do I not have heat, water, flushing toilets, or phone service……my T-Mobile cell phone is down as well! Haven’t seen a tree service company or a National Grid truck yet! National Gotcha Grid ESTIMATES return of power November 3 11:45PM.
We’ll see.

blackbear1

Feel real bad for Maggie. Nat’l Grid should have a public relations nightmare on their hands in view of the tv interview w/their ceo. She showed no empathy or concern for customer service. They seem to be held to no standard or have any mission. She is a good example of the fish rotting from the head.

gramps

“No power yet”?……Blame ‘Beacon Hill’ & the DPU, not the Utilities!….

Ever notice those ‘double poles & the partial poles suspended in the air?….Our ‘Pol’s in concert with the DPU have been looking the ‘other way’ for decades as far as enforcing pole removal regulations!

There was a time, not so long ago, that when a pole needed replacement…..It was replaced, completely!

The utilities had a work force large enough for it’s work load….So, when a storm hit these crews were put on restoring service to the ‘customer’….
The ‘utilities’ slowly started to reduce their work force by cutting the # of ‘recon crews’, which intern, improved their ‘bottom line’……

“THEY REPLACED THEIR SKILLED, SERVICE PROVIDING WORKERS, WITH BEACON HILL LOBBYISTS”!

Making the utilities do the ‘whole job’ by completely removing old infrastructure will bring their workforce back up to ‘snuff’ so we won’t need to depend on Alabama, West Virginia et al for service!

Rate Payers are not just paying for the out of state crews to restore their service but also their hotel/motel rooms plus 3 squares a day!….Just so these “Utilities can increase the return to stockholders”.

If ‘Deval’ wants answers, he only has to look in the mirror blame himself & the ‘POL’s of yesteryear.

Don’t let them ‘cut & kick’ a pole for more than 30 days!

gramps

tsal

Do you have a car charger for your cell? You can put water in back of toilet to flush. Next time remember to fill your tub with water pre-storm and use it to flush toilet. We got power last night – I thought we should not have gotten it as quickly since since places in far worse shape than we are didn’t get power yet. Sadly, it was those with the generators and wood stoves on our street that yelled the loudest because ………well, they felt entitled I guess. It was no big deal since we had plenty of warning and we prepared. We could have easily gone a lot longer without power. As has been said in other comments, on the scale of things it is just not huge. It’s not a disaster – it’s an inconvenience. We used to be able to deal with inconveniences.

Maggie

TSAL I do have a car charger and my phone is fully charged. T-Mobile has no service available where I live! I did fill my washing machine in order to flush my toilets….but even with conserved flushing, the water has run out (this is day 4 for me)! You’re right, it is an inconvenience but to see no action removing trees or electric trucks for two days it seems their response is too slow. NG got the warning about heavy wet snow and major power outages…..if we have to prepare, I think they should too! NG’s response to non payment of bill is real quick, I say they take that strategy and apply to power outages :)
Speaking of generators….most are annoyingly LOUD and people who have them please be considerate of your neighbors. Ever try to fall asleep with one of those running full tilt next door to you? You can’t……you have to wear ear plugs! For the second time in a year my refrigerator and freezer are empty due to power outages. Only so much can fit in a cooler, the rest is history.
Chelmsford Patch reports National Grid has said power restoration will be gradual…..now there’s an understatement!
Other than that, I’m having a great day and anxiously awaiting for the return of my power.
tsal

Maggie – maybe fill the tub next time and bottled water works. I know many who were simply catching water from the roof run off to water horses, etc. I also do not have service in my house for phone but lived without it. As far as generators, we did run one when we were on vacation during Irene and turned it off at night. I however do not mind listening to the sound of those in the neighborhood. I think that a lot of it is dependent on mindset. If you let it bother you —- it will :)

I don’t understand how you lost food. We stocked all coolers with ice for refrigerator food and stocked out freezer with ice for frozen food. That mostly defrosted but stayed plenty cool

As far as not seeing crews I admit that I had said the same thing at the start – something I am now ashamed of. Clearly crews are there since power is being restored. I feel my initial comments were out of ignorance —- I don’t want someone micromanaging the work I do and should not expect to micromanage a business I know nothing about. I discovered the crews were in the more remote, less frequently traveled areas which were devastated with wires causing severe hazards – far more severe than the one in my neighborhood. Just food for thought and I am talking about my initial perspective only.
B G Carter

Someone should check with the Mass Municipal companies. Groton and Littleton still have many customers out. What is the real count when you add in the private utilities?
Rich K

People please stop whining about not having power..during the Ice Storm we lost power for 2 weeks (family of 5) and we had to deal with it. We lost power many times after the Ice Storm. SO MY ADVICE IS STFU and deal with it. Once you hit 2 weeks plus then open your F’in mouths. NH resident

tsal

Rich not sure why two weeks – I don’t think complaining accomplishes a thing. Just be prepared and deal with it.

Tom A.

Here’s an idea…instead of responding to these storms, how about you be proactive and go out and cut the limbs hanging over and going through power lines. These companies decided years ago to stop doing that, pocket the money and then let the federal/state government pay for the cleanup out of the “state of emergency” funds. Nice way to turn a profit…crooks!!