Impressed By The Efforts Of CL&P
Impressed By The Efforts Of CL&P
To the Editor:
CL&P services approximately 150 Connecticut towns. They have, on non-Irene days, roughly 800 teams available statewide. Doing the math, thatâs an average of five crews per town, each working normal eight-hour days. For this storm, outside crews from as far away as Washington State bring that number up to maybe eight crews per town. This would mean 2.6 crews on in any eight-hour period. However, theyâre also double shifting them â exhausting and dangerous for people working with saws on heavy trees and electrical lines, especially for six-plus days straight. (I wouldnât want to do my less physically/emotionally taxing indoor job for six 16-hour days in a row.)
Even if CL&P hires supermen and women, working at peak throughout it all, each townâs âshareâ is about 5.2 crews in any eight-hour block. Crews and their gear spend some of that time in travel and breaks to eat to keep up strength. Equipment needs maintenance and repair when used nonstop, so they can stay safe. It adds up.
As someone whose career consists of helping companies become more productive, I look at the logistics of managing the current storm aftermath and shudder â itâs a coordination nightmare.
CL&P has been moving crews to restore first the priority (emergency/shelter/town services) and high danger areas, then to maximize numbers restored. Thereafter, they work smaller clusters which present less immediate hazard, leaving some in the dark for a bit longer. I, for one, was thrilled to return to power (and therefore water, as Iâm on an electric well pump) Thursday night. Having seen damage for blocks surrounding me, I was amazed it was that quick. Was I impatient? Frustrated? You betcha. But not with CL&P nor its incredibly hardworking teams, both in the field and at the offices, keeping things running. Mostly I was simply impressed by their efforts.
I used some of my no-tech, quiet time wondering how our ancestors did it every day. Some was spent catching up on books. I hadnât slowed down enough to read lately and getting to bed at a decent hour for a change. I also considered how I could be better prepared for such emergencies in the future, because on reflection, I get about a four out of ten (not nearly enough for, say, a zombie apocalypse!). And I spent a fair amount of time awestruck by the power of Mother Nature â both in her ability to wreak havoc and in the crafting of human beings who can, working together, overcome that havoc.
I spent the first day with power cleaning house and getting things back in order. Then I went shopping and baked some cookies to drop off today with my thanks to those people still out there working so hard for all of us. I recommend a similar approach to everyone, rather than jumping on the âsue CL&Pâ bandwagon, which will only cost us more fruitlessly spent time and money in the long run.
Rachel Morris
MGCD Consulting
Aunt Park Lane, Newtown                                    September 6, 2011