Management And Ethics

To the Editor:

Governor Malloy has requested Witt Associates to review the response of Northeast Utilities and Connecticut Light and Power to the 2011 historic October nor’easter.

Actually, Connecticut residents could provide the governor with a report on how Northeast Utilities and CL&P failed in its mission to serve the power needs of the state. Some of the obvious items in that report would be:

Aging and disintegrating infrastructure;

Little or no annual tree trimming and line maintenance;

Net 90-day bill paying policy which in this case prevented or slowed assistance from utility companies that had yet to receive payment for work done following Tropical Storm Irene;

No apparent emergency response plan to cover at least Category 3 hurricanes, tornadoes, or severe ice storms;

Train/certify town road crews to assist in storm related emergencies;

Contract with trained/certified private tree company crews to assist in emergency situations (with training and certification at no cost to private tree company);

Poor communication with on site line/tree crews;

Poor/conflicting communication as to when power would be restored;

Unethical executive compensation packages. In fact, the Governance Risk Indicator for NU executive salaries is now labeled “Medium Concern.” The top five executive compensation packages range from $1.01 million for Mr Robb to $4.82 million for CEO Mr Shivery. Could those dollars be better spent towards upgrading infrastructure?

The Witt Associates report should also provide clarification as to whose responsibility is it for annual tree trimming around utility lines — CL&P, state, town, or property owner? The people of Connecticut anxiously await the Witt Associates report.

Mary Maki

170 Hanover Road, Newtown                                  November 9, 2011