Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) will send 12 crews to the City of Meriden to work on restoring power Wednesday, state Sen. Len Suzio (R-Meriden) said late Tuesday night – up from the three the company reportedly had working in town on Tuesday.
The announcement comes after city legislators and CL&P officials held what some characterized as a "tense" meeting at Meriden's Emergency Operations Center Tuesday evening to discuss the city's rate of restoration – one that Meriden City Manager Lawrence Kendzior has publicly criticized as woefully insufficient. At 9:41 p.m. on Tuesday, 79 percent of Meriden was without power for a third full day, down from 83 percent that afternoon.
Press was not allowed into the 6 p.m. meeting, but some of those in attendence briefed reporters afterwards.
CL&P officials reportedly told the group that it anticipated 99 percent of the state would have power by Sunday, more than a full week after Storm Alfred knocked down trees and powerlines throughout the East Coast.
Meriden officials stressed to CL&P reps that the more than 20,000 residences and businesses without power in Meriden merited a greater response from the utility company, according to state Rep. Chris Donovan (D-Meriden) following the meeting. Donovan, whose own home in Meriden is currently without power, organized the meeting. [Click on the video for some of Donovan's statements following the meeting.]
"Apparently we are one third of the customers in this Cheshire area...and we haven't been getting that proportion of crews into this area," Donovan said, of the 9 towns in the "Cheshire Region" that includes Meriden. During the meeting, CL&P reportedly promised that at least 6 crews would be in the city Wednesday, and possibly more if crews from other states were certain to come in. "I want 30 crews here tomorrow, not six, I want 30," Donovan said.
CL&P offered explanations as to why there has been so few crews working in the city Tuesday following the meeting – especially as compared with August's Tropical Storm Irene. According to Jim Muntz, President for Transmission for Northeast Utilities, it's a basic manpower issue.
Crews from nearby states came to Connecticut to assist with operations following Irene, but this time around, the winter storms affected their states as well – so help has had to come from further away, Munz said.
The damage was also worse than this summer's tropical storm, according to Tom Dorsey, Manager of Government Affairs at CL&P.
"The damage is five times greater than what was caused by Irene," Dorsey said. "This is the largest event in the history of the company."
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