Jan 1, 2009 10:22 pm US/Eastern
Unitil's Apology Brings Customers Little Comfort
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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The Dec. 12 ice storm downed power lines throughout central and western Massachusetts.
Tyner Lawrence/WBZ
Too little too late.
That's what ice storm victims are saying to a New Year's Day
apology from their electric company.
Unitil's President and CEO sent out the statement after some
lost power for nearly two weeks in Fitchburg, Lunenburg, Townsend and Ashby.
"During the storm, 100% of our customers in Massachusetts lost power," said Unitil CEO Robert Schoenberger. "While every effort was extended to restore service as soon as possible, nearly 20% remained out for 7 days and 4% were out for as many as 12 days. For this unfortunate situation we sincerely apologize."
"Nope, doesn't cut it," said Deb Tully, a customer who lost power for 12 days. "Not enough as far as I'm concerned, nope."
She and her husband stayed in hotels for nearly two weeks, only to return to a house full of frozen pipes. After spending thousands of dollars repairing broken heating pipes, they're still pulling up carpets ruined by flooding, and repairing broken toilets.
"Some people, in today's economy, are having so much trouble. This just makes things worse," said Deb Tully.
In the Tullys' hometown of Lunenburg, residents are passing around a petition to remove Unitil as their electric company. The town council is considering it, and state officials are investigating why it took Unitil so long to get the heat and lights back on.
As for those costly electric bills, a company spokesperson says customers who lost power will not be billed for the time they were without power.
However, he says, they won't see the deduction in their statements until next month, when the company is able to get accurate meter readings.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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