Case closed on Eversource downed wires incident, state regulators say

For the second time, state regulators are disciplining Connecticut’s largest electric company in connection with an incident NBC Connecticut Investigates brought to light a year ago.

It involved a situation on Jan. 17, 2023 where an elderly couple in Norfolk had to wait roughly an hour after wires went down on their car on a major road, in the middle of the work week, on a day with no bad weather.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, or PURA, fined Eversource $12,500 for failing to submit reports on the incident in a complete or timely matter.

This is on top of a new directive that Eversource reduce its response target for serious, “Priority One” events from 60 to 30 minutes.

Eversource criticized that decision. So did the union representing line workers, which said the new 30-minute guideline makes things less safe for them.

We reached out to Eversource for a comment on this latest fine, which is relatively small.

Utility spokesperson Tricia Modifica told us:

“It is unfortunate that PURA is penalizing us for the manner in which paperwork was completed, although the commission has acknowledged that our reporting followed standard practice going back many years without issue. We follow the rules when we know what they are. PURA has continued to impose a misguided and unsafe response time of thirty minutes or less, regardless of distance, weather or road conditions, which puts both the public and Eversource employees needlessly at risk. This latest decision is not based on common sense nor was it reached through good faith engagement and collaboration. We are always ready and willing to review current practices for process improvements in collaboration with PURA and others to better serve customers.  We are also always ready to defend the actions of our dedicated, highly skilled and valuable employees and we are grateful every day for their commitment to our critical mission to provide safe and reliable service.”

Eversource told us even though it only has to meet the 30-minute standard on blue sky days, blue sky days can still have road construction, traffic and some weather - just not a major storm event.

PURA noted its decision recognizes that circumstances may affect the ability of the company to meet the deadline, and Eversource can explain how those circumstances prevented it from meeting the target in its incident reports.

PURA commissioners also issued this joint statement:

The only fines or penalties the Authority issued with respect to the January 17, 2023 accident (Accident) in Norfolk were the fines issued today, January 10, 2024, in the Docket No. 23-01-39RE01 Decision. In the Docket No. 23-01-39RE01 Decision, the Authority found that Eversource violated the accident reporting requirements by failing to timely submit the immediate and five-day accident reports and to include the requisite information or otherwise leaving relevant fields blank in both the immediate and the five-day accident reports, despite having responsive information at the time the Company completed the reports. Consequently, the Authority fined Eversource $12,500.

In the August 9, 2023 Decision in Docket No. 23-01-39, that Authority found that Eversource’s delayed response to the Accident was due to imprudent actions taken by the Company. In addition, the Authority found that Eversource’s reporting of the Accident was deficient and may have violated applicable statutes and regulations. To address these deficiencies, the Authority:

1. Directed Eversource to reduce its Priority 1 call response target from 60 minutes to 30 minutes;
2. Directed the Company to review and revise its accident response procedures to ensure compliance with the accident reporting requirements; and
3. Ordered additional reporting requirements to ensure that PURA is fully informed of all accidents in Eversource’s territory.