DANBURY, Conn. (WTNH) — Danbury’s mayor is filing a lawsuit in court next week against Eversource.
Mayor Mark Boughton said Eversource is not a good corporate citizen and they should do the moral thing and reimburse citizens for lost medicine and food.
Nine days after a tropical storm, Karina Madsen’s Danbury street is still blocked by a tree.
“[It’s] dangerous because there are a lot of kids on the street, and there’s a lot of traffic, and [the tree] wasn’t cleared properly and cars were flying down here at night in the pitch black,” she said.
Mayor Boughton said his work crews couldn’t touch the downed limbs until Eversource took care of the wires, which took more than a week.
“Our team is getting ready to start clearing this street because Eversource just disentangled the wires,” said Boughton.
Power was out for a week.
“We did lose a lot of food and there were things you couldn’t do,” added Madsen.
When she and neighbors on Garfield Avenue tried to contact the utility at a mobile command center they became more frustrated.
“They were told it was fixed two days ago. No, it was not.”
The mayor said the lawsuit will be filed next week, and said other communities will sign on.
“The city of Danbury will be suing Eversource on behalf of all of the residents in the city of Danbury,” Boughton said. “They [Eversource] are putting Wall Street over Main Street.”
In a statement, Eversource told News 8:
While we haven’t received notice of this lawsuit, we recognize the tremendous impact Tropical Storm Isaias and the resulting power outages had on our customers across the state. The massive team of line and tree crews we assembled for this storm response – along with the hundreds of employees supporting the effort behind the scenes – did an incredible job working tirelessly on this historic storm restoration. Despite the damage being more severe than in Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene, this restoration was completed 33% faster. That said, as with all storms, we will review our response to Isaias to identify any opportunities for improvement. We will also participate in an after-action review with regulators and community stakeholders to evaluate our approach to emergency response efforts and storm restoration.
Meantime, just over the border in New York state, the power company there, Con Edison, is reimbursing residents for lost food and medicine. Mayor Boughton said Eversource should do the moral thing and follow suit.
At the end of the month, state regulators at the Department of Public Utility Control are holding an online public hearing on Monday, Aug. 24, at 10 a.m. via Zoom.
People can share their story by sending in a testimony to pura.information@ct.gov
Include Docket Number 20-01-01 in the subject line. Comments could be mailed to:
Public Utilities Regulatory Authority
10 Franklin Square
New Britain, CT 06051
Make sure to include Docket Number 20-01-01 in your letter.
