Jun 5, 2009 3:45 pm US/Eastern
AG: Unitil Should Pay $4.6 Million For Ice Storm
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
-
-
The Dec. 11-12 ice storm brought down power lines throughout central and western Massachusetts.
Carol Hopkins
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley wants one of the utility companies that left thousands of customers in the dark after the December ice storm to pay millions of dollars in fines.
Coakley announced Friday she will seek $4.6 million in fines from Unitil, an amount the company called "unreasonable and unprecedented."
"We do not believe there is any basis, legal or otherwise, or any regulatory precedent, to support such an extraordinary financial penalty," Unitil said in a written statement.
The December 11-12 storm knocked out power to 100 percent of Unitil customers in Massachusetts.
Coakley said one in five of its customers went without electricity for a week and more than 1,000 customers were without electricity for twelve days or more.
"Unitil's lack of preparation for the storm and ineptitude during the restoration efforts caused great hardship, suffering and financial loss for the residents and businesses of Fitchburg, Townsend, Lunenburg and Ashby," she said in a statement.
"Our office's most disturbing finding was that Unitil took no efforts during the outage to contact the 65 critical care customers who it knew depended on electricity for survival. Only through strong remedial action and significant penalties will Unitil's ratepayers be protected from the company's action--and inaction--in the future."
Unitil has admitted to being overwhelmed by the storm and has started to take corrective action.
"Since the storm ended, we have been committed to a process of self-assessment and self-criticism," the company said. "An independent report … found 28 specific recommendations for improvement, all of which the company agreed to undertake and many of which have already been implemented."
The Department of Public Utilities will have the final say on the penalties, which, if paid, will go into the state's general fund. Unitil criticized assigning the fine to the general fund, saying it provides no benefit to the affected customers.
Unitil is based in New Hampshire, but also serves customers in north central Massachusetts.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments