Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley called on the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to fine NSTAR $9.7 million for failing to adequately prepare, respond, and communicate during Tropical Storm Irene and the October 2011 snowstorm. NSTAR is a utility company that provides electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Massachusetts.
Coakley made the recommendation in a brief filed with the DPU, which has the authority to impose the fine. According to the brief, NSTAR officials violated three separate storm response obligations under the company’s emergency response plan (ERP).
The company failed to to identify the projected level of severity of both storms, failed to communicate effectively with customers and municipalities throughout the two major storms, and failed to respond to public safety calls about downed wires.
“NSTAR’s preparation for these storms was woefully inadequate and much of the power loss suffered by hundreds of thousands of customers could have been avoided,” Coakley said. “The company’s slow response to downed wires created a dangerous public safety situation for towns across the Commonwealth. These fines are intended to hold NStar accountable for these failings and to send a message that customers deserve better in future storms.”
If granted, the penalties cannot be passed on to NSTAR customers and must be borne by shareholders.
Any penalties assessed by the DPU will be paid to the Commonwealth’s general fund because the AG’s investigation started prior to the Storm Response bill being signed into law this week.
In the future, all penalties associated with storm response violations will be paid back to ratepayers through a credit.
AG Coakley recently recommended to the DPU that fines should also be levied against Western Massachusetts Electric Company for its response to the October 2011 snowstorm and National Grid for alleged violations occurring during both storms.
On July 11, AG Coakley also announced that her office has begun a review of standards used to measure the overall service quality of utility companies to determine if they are adequate or effective.
“The fact that utilities can achieve high marks from the DPU under the existing standards, yet sustain devastating long term outages such as the ones we saw in these storms, shows that something is not working right,” said AG Coakley. “Utilities routinely request and receive rate increases to improve their infrastructure and overall service quality. It’s time to make sure ratepayers are getting the benefits they’re paying for.”