Politics & Government

Senate Votes to Reform Utility Companies' Emergency Response

A bill was passed in the Massachusetts State Senate to address the response of public utility companies. It is now on to the State Representatives for their vote.

 

(PRESS RELEASE SENATOR ROSS' OFFICE)

The Senate on Thursday passed a bill to address emergency service response of public utility companies in Massachusetts as a result of the widespread power outages in communities across the state during Tropical Storm Irene in August and the snowstorm in October.              

Find out what's happening in Attleborowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I am thrilled that we are taking the steps necessary to remedy the poor emergency response plans exhibited by the utility companies last fall and to ensure that Massachusetts residents do not face such a situation in the future,” said Senator Richard Ross (R-Wrentham). “This legislation will increase communication between utility companies and municipalities to facilitate a faster, more efficient response to power outages throughout the Commonwealth. I am also pleased to see that the customers will be credited for those power outages, to reimburse them for the hardships they endured during that time.”  

After discussing the serious difficulties municipalities and constituents experienced in seeking accurate information from the utility companies during the storms, Ross presented three amendments he had filed to the bill.

Find out what's happening in Attleborowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

First, Ross called for a condition that when calculating reimbursement credits, utility companies consider a customer’s average usage at a time prior to the power outage, rather than the customer’s usage during the outage.

Ross’ next amendment requires that community liaisons be provided with up-to-date information on service outages and local feeder maps.

His last amendment puts forth additional requirements on the communication system provided for in the bill, including continuous access to staff assistance and twice daily updates on restoration of service via telephone, website and an additional means of communication. 

Ross was thrilled to see that each of these vital amendments to the bill passed, but he was disappointed that his amendment requiring utility companies to station at least one forestry and one line crew in each municipality was unsuccessful.

The amendment would have ensured that crews remained in the municipality until power was fully restored.              

The bill requires public utility companies to provide twice-daily estimates to customers on when electricity will be restored following a 24-hour damage assessment period, and to set up a call center during a major storm.

The call center must be located in Massachusetts and must have sufficient staffing to handle increases in calls.  

Utilities must also report storm outages to the state and designate a community liaison in each community when implementing an emergency response plan. The bill also requires utilities to designate staff at the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency to help coordinate statewide response.

Additionally, utilities will pay an assessment charge to help the Department of Public Utilities pay for storm investigations. The cost of this assessment cannot be passed on to customers. The bill also ensures that any penalties assessed on utilities for violation of emergency preparation and response will be credited to customers.     

Finally, to further ensure that public utility companies in Massachusetts improve their response to cities and towns during a storm, the bill extends the possibility of receivership to all utilities in the case of gross negligence. Currently, only Unitil is subject to receivership.

The bill now goes to the House of Representatives.              

Please contact the office of Senator Ross with any questions or concerns at (617) 722-1555 or Richard.Ross@masenate.gov.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here