Farmington Valley Municipal Leaders Meet with CL&P Executives to Review Area Power Restoration Plan

Elected and appointed officials from Avon, Canton, Farmington, Granby and Simsbury met Friday with Connecticut Light & Power vice president of customer solutions William J. Quinlan and other CL&P senior staff members to review CL&P’s plan to restore power to 99 percent of area residents by midnight on Sunday, November 6. 

At the roughly hour-long meeting, held in Simsbury, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (who spent some time at the Simsbury shelter before the meeting), U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, State Sen. Kevin Witkos and State Rep. Linda Schofield were also present to voice their support for the municipalities.

In a frank exchange, municipal leaders expressed skepticism about the power company’s commitment to restore power to all but 1 percent of its Farmington Valley customers by Sunday and questioned the company’s baseline assessment of the existing damage. 

Quinlan and director of operations Sherri Winslow responded that CL&P was committing the necessary resources to get the job done. 

“There’s no question that this is a daunting challenge,” said Quinlan, “but we are confident that power can be restored in this time frame.”

CL&P agreed to meet with town representatives on a regular basis to assess progress towards the full restoration goal. 

“I made clear in conversations yesterday with CL&P that this meeting was absolutely necessary,” said Rep. Chris Murphy.  “CL&P has made a commitment and they’ve agreed to be measured against that commitment.  Now it is up to them to deliver.”

CL&P plans a dramatic increase in crews of all types to meet its restoration goals.  The company’s power restoration efforts have been greatly enhanced by crews from out of state and by Connecticut National Guard troops who are helping to clear roads. Senior level contacts within CL&P were also identified for each town to ensure that problems can be communicated directly to CL&P decision-makers.

In attendance were Avon Town Manager Brandon Robertson, Canton First Selectman Richard Barlow, Farmington Town Manager Kathy Eagen, Granby Town Manager Bill Smith and Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, as well as police, fire and emergency responders for all of the towns represented.

Farmington Town Manager Kathy Eagen seemed hopeful after the meeting. CL&P had set specific goals to meet throughout the weekend and would be following up in a meeting with valley officials tonight and again Saturday morning.

“I think we’re going to see a dramatic increase in crews. I have seen it already,” Eagen said. “They hope to restore power to the town substantially over the weekend.”

The utility company is sticking to its estimate of restoring 99 percent of power by Sunday evening.