A wires down incident with an elderly couple stuck in an overturned van for close to an hour has prompted an investigation of a Connecticut power company by state utility regulators.
From the day George and Corrine Green crashed into a utility pole, with live wires draped over their car - and concerned friends, family members, and first responders had about an hour-long wait until they were rescued - the power company has stated its response was routine.
Now months later, Eversource told the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, or PURA, it just took a while for crews to get to the scene. It was all the way up in Norfolk, in our state’s northwest corner, but it was in the middle of the business day with clear skies and on a major road - Route 44.
“Their objective is to get there as safely as quickly as possible, with the understanding that they still have to obey by all Connecticut traffic laws. Meaning stop at lights, stop at stop signs, proceed in a safe manner,” said Paul Raia, Eversource’s director of electric system operations (Respond & Restore), during a PURA hearing in April.
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But as PURA investigators and PURA Chair Marissa Gillett continued their questions, more aspects of the Eversource response to what are called priority one situations - the most critical and time-sensitive - were revealed.
Eversource told PURA that the team coordinating the line workers did not have a mapping tool that shows the real-time location of the line workers who could respond.
“It essentially, it becomes a judgment call based off of the operators' experience where those response specialists located in the zone, who would get there the fastest,” said William Gelinas, Eversource director of electric system operations in Connecticut.
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Testimony also revealed Eversource has an administrative assistant playing a major role in the review of how it handles incidents like the one in Norfolk.
This includes determining and recording significant facts and information regarding:
- The cause of accident
- Any injuries
- Actions the company has taken and the immediate actions Eversource plans to take in response to the accident
Gillett asked, “To the best of your knowledge, is she, does she have paralegal training, engineering background, investigatory background of any kind?”
Eversource Manager of Distribution Projects and Programs Mark Bonjuklian answered, “It really is a collaborative effort between engineering, Miss Remington, myself, and two of my engineers.”
We spoke about the Norfolk incident with Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, who warned Texans of an electricity crisis there eight years before it happened.
He told NBC Connecticut Investigates Eversource should have been able to respond with more speed, and maybe it needs to put together response teams in different parts of the state to reduce response times, noting while no one suffered serious injuries in Norfolk, they could have.
“Had there been a life-threatening situation beyond where we were with the folks trapped in the car, somebody was going to have to take over and sitting around waiting for a half hour and an hour is just too long in these sorts of situations,” Hirs said.
We asked Eversource about questions raised at the hearing.
The utility re-emphasized its stance, saying, “We believe the evidence shows that we properly followed our procedures for a priority one response and communicated appropriately with the town…”
PURA is expected to issue a preliminary decision next month.
All three PURA commissioners vote on it Aug. 2.
