Berlin electric utility Connecticut Light & Power faces financial penalties now that the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Wednesday affirmed its ruling the utility “deficient and inadequate” in its response to 2011’s two major power outages.
In July, PURA put out a draft decision saying CL&P did have reasonable preparation or response to Tropical Storm Irene and the Oct. 29 snowstorm, both causing more than 750,000 power outages including some for up to 11 days.
PURA ruling on Wednesday simply finalized the July decision after all parties involved commented on the case.
The next time CL&P comes to PURA for a rate review, the regulators will weigh these findings in its decision. CL&P incurred more than $300 million in storm costs, although the utility agreed to seek only $260 million in recovery from ratepayers.
CL&P had not planned on seeking recovery of the $260 million until 2014 at the earliest.
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen had asked PURA to force CL&P to carry up to $130 million of the storm costs on its own, although PURA did not announce a dollar amount on Wednesday.
“The intent of this review was not just to point out the obvious – that CL&P failed to meet its public service obligations in the wake of these storms – but also to hold the company accountable for its failings and lay the foundation for future improvement so that these failures never happen again,” Jepsen said in a press release.
