[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Just wanted to throw in a stat in here....

63 Counties in Connecticut. 169(I think) Cities

Lets use 900 trucks/crews. Thats 14 trucks per county.
They had 4 days to prepare for this. Did they think that was enough backup?

Here's a little video for you.

Time to wake up and put urgency into the situation. I'll never forget approaching them and hearing them say they were waiting for a list. . I dont know about you but I know where I'm going the day/night before. And I have breakfast at home or a 10 minute coffee break.


CL&P Urgency to Restore power - YouTube

Um...there are only 8 counties in Connecticut. Assuming your math was right about the trucks (which - it probably isn't, since you didn't know there are 8 counties in Connecticut) - then that'd make it over 100 trucks/crews per county. And - that's also assuming all crews consist of either 1 or 2 people (since you can't fit 3 people into those trucks).

Why not just check their website and find out the exact numbers, instead of making assumptions? Also, when you know where you're going the day/night before, you're making ANOTHER assumption: that the road from your home to point B won't have trees blocking it, detouring you to road #72, which has another tree blocking it, which takes you down avenue #9, which has major flooding at the block you'd normally need to turn left, forcing you to either turn right, going in the opposite direction, or go back home.

You're also assuming that you'd know all of this, before you left home, and could plan your exact detoured route before you ever got to your first detour.

Lots of assumptions you're making there. Maybe you'd be better off sticking with weather forcasts. You're very good at that.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

I clearly touched a nerve.

I own an auto repair shop. No, I don't write off business lunches and I have none of the enormous tax breaks that big corporations enjoy. In fact, I barely get any tax breaks. The reason is that I can't afford to lobby politicians to get them so when bills come around that might give me a helping hand friends of big business vote them down. Senate Republicans Vote Against Helping Small Businesses | Political Correction

I don't need an accountant. I need a lobbyist.

But this is getting way off track. I will no longer respond.

I hope you all get your power back on.

Touched a nerve? Whaa?

You need a better accountant because there are "tax breaks" you are not exploring. This coming from a former owner of an automotive enterprise that designed, manufactured and installed performance parts. We started off with two people and ended with 10 on payroll and 7 figure gross sales so I'm not guessing at this.

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

Um...there are only 8 counties in Connecticut. .

63? LMAO... Why did I put 63? CT is not that big. lol And considering I always mention the counties in Weather posts I must have had 63 on my mind.

Yes.. 8 Counties... 900 trucks in 8 Counties = 112 trucks per county. I guess they thought that was enough

[trishguard]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Just wanted to throw in a stat in here....

63 Counties in Connecticut. 169(I think) Cities

Lets use 900 trucks/crews. Thats 14 trucks per county.
They had 4 days to prepare for this. Did they think that was enough backup?

Here's a little video for you.

Time to wake up and put urgency into the situation. I'll never forget approaching them and hearing them say they were waiting for a list. . I dont know about you but I know where I'm going the day/night before. And I have breakfast at home or a 10 minute coffee break.



CL&P Urgency to Restore power - YouTube

I'm sure they could be better organized, but if they are waiting for a list, what more can they do? I guess they should go into hiding until they know their assignment.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by trishguard

I'm sure they could be better organized, but if they are waiting for a list, what more can they do? I guess they should go into hiding until they know their assignment.

Seriously, you can't determine anything from a video like that. Maybe they just came off a 17 hour shift and are heading to the hotel to sleep? Maybe they are waiting to relieve other crews coming off shift. So many issues can be at hand here. I'm just shocked that during such an emergency/disaster people have nothing better to do than spy on the utility workers. Put half that energy into something to help yourself or a neighbor.

[Cambium]

9/3/11

~ Damage now stands at 941 broken poles,
~ 3,404 sections of downed wire,
~ 623 broken transformers
~ 2,045 closed roads across our service territory.
~ We have helped clear 1,526 roads so far
~ another 519 still remain blocked.
~ Today 1,730 crews will work across Conn
~ In some areas, a complete rebuild of the system is necessary.

From CL&P facebook page.

[adamz]

Originally Posted by JViello

Yep...



Let me throw a monkey wrench in your well thought out trap for a minute.

It's not corporate greed. It's GREED PERIOD.

What drives corporate profits? Greedy shareholders wanting an unrealistic return.

What limits the amount of crews on hand that will make them overstaffed on regular times? The greed of union bosses who hold the company hostage for unrealistic wages. (They can only hire so many crew to sit on "stand by" and still hit earning expectations.)

It's the greed of politicians who love the power and campaign funds special interest groups provide.

It's the greed of the consumer who always wants it as cheap as possible.

It's possibly the greed of OTHER power companies that go to higher paying states first.

It's not just the corporation, it's us. We the people have become greedy on every aspect of life including yourself pining for electricity in an "acceptable" time frame, during THE worst power outage in the history of our state.

And it's not my political ideology that's pointing to the problem, it's factual. The power company is controlled by the state, and the unions. Period. The DPUC (PURA now) IS THE OVERSIGHT for the things you are complaining about. Call them, and ask them why they didn't make sure CL&P had enough crews on hand for such an emergency. (Hope you're ready for a 25% hike in your bill.)

JViello-
As you can imagine, my internet access is rather limited.

1. You can't single out "greedy union bosses" from union members. That's specious. Have you ever heard of an Union situation where the rank-and-file were pleading with Union officials to drop demand for higher wages?The FACT is that line work is dangerous. Line men deserve to be well-paid, and to have mandated breaks for their safety. Right?

2. My desire for electricity on an "acceptable" time frame is my right as a consumer in a free market. The whole basis of the free market philosophy s that I get to choose with my money which provider of a good or service I utilize. This will lead to maximum efficiency as providers compete for my money. Yet here I have no choice, because CLP is a natural monopoly, as you pointed out. Therefore, it is reasonable for me to turn to Government to regulate them. I will utilize the information you so kindly provided in my quest to see that reasonable standards are applied.

3. I agree with your point about greedy shareholders. That raises a question: what is an acceptable profit for a company? Is there such a thing? Should a power company be free to make as much profit as they want? Can there be limits imposed?

Something to ponder. Have a great day!

[kidyankee764]

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

They gave us a Tuesday power date, and it's back on today. Woohoo!

[adamz]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

They gave us a Tuesday power date, and it's back on today. Woohoo!

It's been my hope that that's what will happen for me, too. Welcome back to the 21st century.... or even the early 20th

[AnonChick]

And so - according to CL&P, 99% of customers served by them have been fully restored to power. Not only that, but Northeast Utilities, the parent company of CL&P, has donated a million bucks to the Red Cross to help with recovery for residents who sustained more than just powerloss as a result of the hurricane. They're also waiving late fees to all customers who have been unable to pay their bills or even -get- their bills because they've been displaced. They plan on continuing 24-hour work until there is full restoration in their territory, which they expect to be completed by midnite Wednesday.

That's a bit less pessimistic than their original assessments of over 2 weeks in some areas.

UI is doing marginally better, percentage-wise; they started out at around 158,000 customers without power, they now have 1700 more still to go, which gives them a 99.5% restoration rate so far.