CL&P: Only 1 percent of customers still without power

Connecticut Light & Power announced Monday it had met its statewide goal for “substantially complete” restoration after only 1 percent of its customers remained without power around 7:15 p.m.

The company, in a statement, said power had been restored to more than 800,000 customers impacted in the last week by Hurricane Sandy.

“We greatly appreciate the dedication of the thousands of utility responders who came to assist in the massive restoration effort,” said Bill Quinlan, CL&P Senior Vice President of Emergency Preparedness. “Thanks to the team effort of these workers, the municipalities we serve, and many state agencies, we were able to achieve our goal of restoring power to the vast majority of customers by Monday or Tuesday. But our work won’t be done until every customer is restored.”

The company received backlash last year over its handling of restoration efforts following Tropical Storm Irene. It led to the ouster of its chief executive and a change in policy on predictions for power restoration. Monday evening, almost 14,000 customers statewide remained in the dark. About 300 customers in southeastern Connecticut remained without power, about 260 of those in Old Lyme.