Update as of 5:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4: Statewide, 316,856 homes or 25 percent of customers are still without power, according to CL&P's outage map.
In Middlebury, 47 percent are still without power, or 1,614 homes. In Woodbury, 64 percent of people are without power, or 3,321 homes.
Original Article:
An apologetic Connecticut Light and Power President Jeff Butler said the company was committed to calling in as many crews as were required to meet its self-imposed Sunday, November 6, restoration deadline, while a frustrated Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he was running out of patience with the utility and warned against missing the deadline.
"Until those numbers are proven wrong, then I’m going to accept them,” Malloy said of that 99 percent of its customers throughout the state would see power restored by sometime Sunday, which numerous company officials affirmed Thursday the utility was sticking to. "But you can be assured that I’m applying as much pressure, or to use the term that I used yesterday, I’m holding everybody’s feet to the fire on this and I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes if they failed to deliver."
Malloy said he will be deploying 100 National Guard troops throughout some of the hardest hit areas of the state beginning the night of Thursday, November 3, such as Avon and Simsbury, to help clear debris from the storm.
Governor's First Focus is Power Restoration
Regarding Malloy's opinion of CL&P’s preparedness and response to the storm and its self-imposed Sunday deadline, he said he wishes to focus on the immediate need to restore power to Connecticut residents and that there will be plenty of time for examination or criticism later.
"I think the proof ultimately will be: Do they get us down to 300,000 tomorrow?" said Malloy. "Do they get us down to 99 percent by Sunday? And then we can all have a field day in taking this thing apart and looking at it in all its pieces from the first weather report to the last person being turned on."
As many parts of Connecticut struggled through a sixth straight day without power Thursday, November 3, and CL&P continued to import more crews to aid in power restoration efforts, Malloy scheduled another press conference to update the media and the public about restoration and clean-up efforts in the wake of the rare October snowstorm at the State Armory in Hartford.
CL&P President Apologizes
Butler, CL&P’s chief executive who has seen pressure mount on him and his company as hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residents still remained without power six days after the storm, began his remarks by issuing an apology to CL&P’s customers.
"The thing I’m sorry about is that so many customers here in Connecticut have been out of power for so long, especially when you think about the weather conditions, the forecast that we’ve heard that it’s going to be colder," Butler said.
He said he personally wished the restoration was faster.
Butler said that CL&P had 1,495 total crews working on restoration efforts throughout the state Thursday, November 3, and that as of 6 p.m. that day, CL&P had restored 561,000 customers, but that 397,000 customers remained in the dark.
More Crews Added
He said CL&P would be adding 200 additional linemen to assist restoration efforts on Friday, November 4 -- 867 two-man line crews were working throughout the state Thursday -- and that the company was confident it will have outage numbers down to 300,000 customers by Friday morning and will meet its Sunday deadline.
"I have not put a cap on crews," said Butler. "We’re bringing in whatever resources are available to expedite the restoration to all Connecticut customers as quickly as possible."
He reiterated the 99 percent goal for restoration of the state's customers by 11:59 p.m. Sunday.
"Will it be a challenge? Absolutely," said Butler. "But that’s why I said that we are doing everything possible to bring in every resource available."
Regarding the , Butler said the utility was committed to "bringing in whatever crews we can get" over the next several days to meet the deadline.
"I understand some of the concerns, some of the frustrations from the towns based on where they are today, but our focus is to get 99 percent of every towns customers restored by Sunday night," he said.
