Community Corner

CL&P Wants Customers to Pay $414 Million For Storm Cleanup

The utility has asked state regulators for permission to bill Connecticut ratepayers for the costs of restoration after several storms, including the 2011 freak snowstorm that paralyzed the state.

 

CL&P wants its customers to pay $414 million toward the company's costs of restoration efforts after several major storms in recent years, including Hurricane Irene in 2011, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and an October snowstorm in 2011 that saw the company come under such harsh criticism it forced the resignation of CL&P's president.

The state's largest utility has filed a request with state regulators that would see its 1.2 million customers in Connecticut reimburse CL&P the $414 million over six years, the Hartford Courant reports today. In all, the utility told regulators, it spent $462 million on five storms in recent years, including Irene, Sandy and the October 2011 freak snowstorm. 

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Under its proposal, a typical residential customer would pay an average of $3 more per month on their electric bill under the rate increase request.

CL&P was harshly criticized for its response to the 2011 snowstorm that hit the state just days before Halloween, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers, some for up to 10 days.

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The drubbing the company took for what even state regulators criticized as an inadequate restoration response led to the resignation of the company's president and CEO, Jeffrey Butler, in November of 2011.         


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