Town Officials unhappy with response to ice storm

From the Eagle Tribune;

NH town officials unhappy with response to ice storm
By Jarret Bencks
jbencks@eagletribune.com

Hampton officials are so unhappy with Unitil's response to last month's ice storm, they're asking voters if they want to establish a municipal utility.

Local officials haven't taken such drastic measures, but many are upset with the utility's response and they have a lot of questions.

Officials in Plaistow and Atkinson, where Unitil is the primary power provider, have begun to review the response to the storm from town emergency crews and the utility provider.

The state's Public Utilities Commission will conduct its own investigation into all the state utilities' performance in the wake of the crippling storm. That storm left hundreds of thousands of Granite State residents in the dark for days.

Power supplies are state controlled, but towns do have some options if they aren't satisfied with their provider.

One option is to go to the PUC and request investigations into specific incidents.

A PUC investigation could result in fines against utility providers or add new requirements for the company, such as requiring them to add more staff.

Another, and perhaps more dramatic, option is to try to take control of the power supply municipally. That would mean the town would manage, staff and monitor all town power operations.

"It would be a significant change to how it is done now," said Meredith Hatfield, the state's consumer advocate for utility customers. "The power supply would not be regulated by the PUC anymore. All budgeting and management would be done by town management."

The town would have to purchase the wires and poles, which could be difficult if the utility company isn't willing to part with its customers.

"It's a potentially lengthy process," Hatfield said.

Unitil officials said they will encourage an open dialogue with towns and residents as they consider their power supply options, according to George Gantz, Unitil senior vice president.

"We think they will come to the conclusion that the operations and services we provide will be the best option," Gantz said, "but we don't want to dissuade people from asking questions."

Three towns in New Hampshire operate municipal power supplies — Ashland, Littleton and Wolfeboro.

Atkinson selectmen and town emergency officials will meet Thursday to discuss the response to the storm from the town and the utility company.

"It was a concern of ours at the time and it still is," said Paul Sullivan, chairman of the selectmen. "We've got to review what happened."

Plaistow selectmen plan to meet with emergency officials to review and discuss Unitil's response, town officials said.

"We have the same concerns most towns had," Selectman Dan Poliquin said. "Communication was a definite problem; information given to us was not accurate or on a timely basis at all."

Selectmen have discussed having representatives from Unitil come in for a public meeting to explain their emergency process and priorities to the public, Poliquin said.

The PUC sets power rates for utility customers. Unitil has estimated the ice storm cost the company $10 million. Poliquin said he hoped the PUC would use its power to prevent the expenses from being passed on to residents.

"It appears that is a possibility, and that really shouldn't be happening," he said. "They should be able to deal with that through their insurance or the federal government."

Since the ice storm, Unitil has set up an emergency information center, intended to directly link town officials to the company's operations center.

The company will now deploy crews to area towns before a storm begins to expedite repair times. Unitil services parts of Atkinson, Danville, Derry, Kingston, Londonderry, Newton and Plaistow.

The utility hired Bob Yardley, former chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, as a consultant in internal assessments of the company.

The company sent a letter of apology last week to customers for the prolonged power outages and communication problems that came up.

"We are well aware of the frustrations of customers. It was a lengthy outage; it's a logical reaction," Gantz said. "I think things will settle down and we'll all learn some things from this process. We will all be in better shape in the future."