Plans to keep the lights on in Connecticut

Who would have thought that an October snowstorm could throw the generally civilized state of Connecticut back into the 19th century? Many locations were without power for more than a week due to the ravages of Winter Storm Alfred, with some areas of the state in the dark for 13 days. It would seem inarguable that the state and Connecticut Light & Power, which covered the areas most affected by this storm, were not prepared for weather disasters, especially since that outage came on the heels of widespread loss of power in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene in August. Investigations into the response and performance of the state, municipalities and power companies led to an announcement by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy last week of proposals which should result in better emergency preparedness across Connecticut. All the proposals make sense. So much sense that it seems incredible that it had to take not one, but two, major disasters in the state before such steps were considered. Malloy proposed: increasing state Department of Transportation funding for tree and limb cutting from $550,000 to $1.5 million; organizing a statewide preparedness drill by September 2012 at a cost of about $650,000; performance standards for electrical companies (it’s about time such an important utility be held accountable for its efficiency, as is already done in Massachusetts); regional micro-grids that would run separately from the larger power grid; and improvement of the infrastructure, including both aboveground wires and the possible burying of wires underground. Several columnists and letter-writers in this newspaper, after the devastating October storm, expressed frustration and confusion as to why power lines had not been buried underground more frequently in such a hard climate as that of Connecticut’s. When Executive Editor Cynthia Hochswender asked a CL&P representative about burying power lines, however, she was told it was not a good answer to the problem of snapping wires, in that it can be difficult to locate problems with underground wires and such wires still break down when buried. Of course, the process is very expensive, as well. According to the Hartford Courant, Malloy said last week it would cost about $2.5 billion to improve and bury only 40 percent of the state’s grid. Still, he began the process of evaluation for such a project. Will CL&P cooperate fully with the state on such new initiatives? It’s in their best interest to do so. Isn’t it always less costly to be proactive rather than reactive, to be prepared and maintain equipment rather than have to try to fix things during a storm, or its aftermath? Easily said, not easily done. But as has been noted here before, with some of the most expensive electrical rates in the nation, Connecticut residents should expect results from the proposals Malloy put forward last week.