Business & Tech

United Illuminating: 'One Year After Irene, Stronger and Better Prepared'

Company says lessons learned during 2011 storms - Irene and the October snow - continue to be implemented

The United Illuminating Company says that in the year since Tropical Storm Irene hit Connecticut, it has "fortified its electric system and continually upgraded its infrastructure to ensure an even better response after future weather events."

In a press release, the company says that in the wake of Irene on Aug. 28, 2011, it saw 210,332 outages. "UI was able to restore service to virtually all customers safely within a week. The Edison Electric Institute, an international industry group, even awarded UI with its Emergency Recovery Award for its response to Irene. This is a highly coveted award and judges the performance of US based and international utility companies," the company said.

“We’re extremely proud of what we accomplished in the wake of Irene, but we also learned valuable lessons during the restoration effort,” said Anthony J. Vallillo, UI’s president and chief operating officer, in the press release. “We began implementing these ‘lessons learned’ immediately after Irene, and we continue to invest in infrastructure and develop processes that will help us to keep the power on and restore it quickly after future storms.”

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After Irene, the state was hit with an October snowstorm, which also left wide swaths of the state without electric service. The Company committed to spending $10 million to $15 million through 2014 on systems and technologies to enhance our storm response.  

This year UI introduced a new Outage Map on uinet.com that provides up-to-date information about outages in UI’s service territory, showing the ZIP codes affected and estimated restoration times.

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The company said it has also focused on "our partnerships with cities and towns, reinforcing lines of communication and giving local officials a much bigger role in helping us set outage-restoration priorities. This will help to ensure that our teams are in close contact with local officials and emergency responders — and that everyone agrees beforehand on what needs to be done."

Additionally, UI said "we now can call on resources from our three gas distribution businesses to pitch in during an emergency, allowing our electric utility personnel to focus on what they do best: getting the power back on."

Lastly, "we’ve taken long-term and strategic steps to ensure that electric service reliability is a top priority in weather fair and foul. We’ve proposed solutions to the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority that will help to improve our effectiveness during restoration events. And we’re also working with state, local and community agencies on issues like tree planting, providing information and education to help avoid trees coming down on power lines during storms generations hence."

UI reminds everyone: If you see downed or dangling power lines after a storm, or other damaged equipment, assume they are live and dangerous. Stay far away and call 911, then report the condition to UI at 800-722-5584 (800-7-CALL-UI).

Storms and other weather conditions usually have minimal impact on natural gas distribution systems. However, any disruption of service or odor of natural gas should be reported immediately. Customers of UIL gas utilities can contact the numbers below:

Berkshire Gas Company: 800-292-5012

Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation: 866-924-5325

Southern Connecticut Gas Company: 800-513-8898


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