Tagged: WMECO

The snow and wind from the weekend’s winter storm knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of Bay State residents this weekend, but the while much of the state has had their electricity restored, residents in some areas are still waiting.

As of 10 am Monday morning, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reported that 116,000 were still without power – including 93,000 NSTAR customers, and 23,000 served by National Grid.

On Tuesday, Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Rick Sullivan, Chair of the Department of Public Utilities Ann Berwick, and other officials, announced that their investigation to utilities’ response to Tropical Storm Irene and the October 2011 snow storm warranted $24.8 million in penalties to be returned to ratepayers.

State energy regulators have fined three Massachusetts utilities nearly $25 million for their response to two major storms in 2011.

The penalties were announced Tuesday by the Department of Public Utilities after a yearlong investigation.

Some customers were without power for a week after Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011 and a surprise October snowstorm.

       The Massachusetts Attorney General is getting tough with the state’s three largest investor owned utility companies.  Martha Coakley is proposing hefty fines over their responses to two major storms last year. She is also calling for a change in the standards used to measure the performance of the utility companies.   WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports