[Comp625]

My wife and I are starting to house hunt in Hamden, North Haven, Woodbridge, Orange and Milford. Does either UI or Eversource release historical outage reports? I know it's not a standard request but I'm hoping to find neighborhoods that have higher uptimes and/or are considered higher priority during outages.

We're currently 5 mins from the Lockheed Sikorsky plant in Stratford and our electricity uptime is awesome. The naive side of me assumes it has something to do with being near a government-contracted facility (extra redundancy, stronger grid, etc.).

[retiree2011]

Outside your preferred area, but you might want to consider Wallingford. Town has its own electric utility company, and water company. People I know in Wallingford say their rates are lower and they hardly ever have outages.

[Tetto]

Look near police stations; they are the first priority in outages in getting power back.

[Stylo]

I live near Gulf Beach in Milford and have only lost power a couple of times in 8 years. The longest was a few hours and was due to a car hitting a utility pole.

I don't think we've ever lost power during a storm.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by retiree2011

Outside your preferred area, but you might want to consider Wallingford. Town has its own electric utility company, and water company. People I know in Wallingford say their rates are lower and they hardly ever have outages.

This is a good suggestion. Because the electric company is town owned, not only are the Electric rates lower, they can deal with outages faster. The towns road crews work with the electric linemen to restore power. Jay

[Comp625]

Thanks for the Wallingford tip!

Besides that along with the one about being near a police station, are there any other tips from an electric uptime/downtime perspective? Are there towns that are worse with restoring and/or are more prone to outages than others?

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Comp625

Thanks for the Wallingford tip!

Besides that along with the one about being near a police station, are there any other tips from an electric uptime/downtime perspective? Are there towns that are worse with restoring and/or are more prone to outages than others?

Well, if you so concerned about losing electricity, the obvious tip would be to install a whole house generator in the home you purchase. Even better, go off grid and install a whole house solar electricity system. Jay

[clutchrider]

Originally Posted by Comp625

Thanks for the Wallingford tip!

Besides that along with the one about being near a police station, are there any other tips from an electric uptime/downtime perspective? Are there towns that are worse with restoring and/or are more prone to outages than others?

Originally Posted by retiree2011

Outside your preferred area, but you might want to consider Wallingford. Town has its own electric utility company, and water company. People I know in Wallingford say their rates are lower and they hardly ever have outages.

We have lived in Wallingford for almost 5 years now. With about 3k sq.ft. our bill is bout $100 or less in the winter/cooler months and peaks at $190 in the dead of summer. This is running a central air 24 hours and a pool during the day with 2 kids.

Power basically never goes out, I say basically because we lost it for a whole 20 minutes when we first moved in and by the time I called when it went out they already had a team on-site who knew about and were correcting the issue. We have a generator, not whole house which is plenty to run our fridges, charge phones, etc. If your looking for a whole house unit be sure to find a home with natural gas so you don't have to worry about a propane tank or other fuel to fill it with.

Can't say enough good things about this town, and it neighbors North Haven with very similar tax rates and what I would consider better amenities.

[Mike 75]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Well, if you so concerned about losing electricity, the obvious tip would be to install a whole house generator in the home you purchase. Even better, go off grid and install a whole house solar electricity system. Jay

This. Especially if you are on a well or require electricity to power your heating system. The generator systems are pretty common at this point and have come down in price. Even better if you live in an area with nat gas, which means you don't have to deal with propane.

[MrGompers]

Has anyone noticed that on I-91 north before entering Wallingford they have a billboard touting Wallingford's town electric system and how its better with lower prices etc ?