Snowplow operators in the region said they were forced to charge two to three times their normal rates for the blizzard that blasted the region late Saturday night and still had homeowners digging out Monday afternoon.

Snow-removal services generally charge a flat rate up to a certain level of snowfall - anything from 3 to 8 inches - and then bill extra for accumulations beyond the minimum. With snowfall in some areas reaching 2 feet, a residential plow after Saturday's storm could cost anywhere from $70 to $300, snow-removal companies said, while commercial customers could be looking at $100 or more extra for every inch of snow.

"I got 100 or more phone calls," Gary Britagna, owner of Gary's Snow Removal in Waterford, said Monday afternoon. "A lot of people are still stuck out there."

Britagna, who had 30 men working the storm, estimated he did an extra $30,000 in business. That's in addition to more than $100,000 in seasonal accounts that get paid whether it snows or not, he said.

And the snow proved a boon for the two-person teams who worked the storm, as a slew of people hurt by the slow economy - including those in real estate and the building trades - have been lining up to help with plowing.

"A lot of people could really use the extra money," Britagna said. "People called me I wouldn't expect to call."

While smaller snowplow operators pray for many days of snow, those with large accounts would be just as happy with a balmy winter, said David Beebe, owner of Creative Landscaping in Pawcatuck.

Beebe said Monday his major accounts, such as Target in Waterford and the 99 Restaurant in Groton, pay for snow removal by the season, meaning he doesn't make much more from them if it snows than if skies are clear all winter long.

"If we get no snow, I make out like a bandit," he said. "A big storm is not good, because 90 percent of my accounts are seasonal."

But T.J. Olmstead, owner of Advanced Lawn Care in North Stonington, said he spends 85 to 90 percent of his time plowing residential driveways. Many of his accounts require him to plow based on a certain amount of snowfall, and he usually starts the process once six inches have accumulated.

With snow reaching levels four times that amount, Olmstead said many customers were getting two or three "pushes," bringing the minimum cost of snow removal from the usual $35 to $40 to two to three times that level.

"I probably did 15 to 25 people stuck on the side of the road," Olmsteade added.

Olmstead said he barely slept for 40 hours, camping out in one customer's driveway for an hour and a half before heading back out at 3 a.m. Monday.

"The phone was ringing off the hook," he said. "People were not prepared for this much snow."

The biggest problem, he said, was in explaining to people why he couldn't get to their driveways right away. He tries to plow his regular customers first, then follows up with others on a first-come, first-served basis. But he also has to schedule snow removal based on a customer's location.

Olmstead, who has two trucks, normally does plowing for 35 to 40 residential customers, but he estimated serving about 50 people during the weekend storm. He can easily make $1,000 profit during a storm, he said.

Snowplow operators said it's hard putting a cost on snow removal because there are so many factors involved. The biggest nightmare, they said, is a long, rural driveway with an upward incline where there is little space on the sides to deposit snow.

Beebe, the Pawcatuck plower, said he was doing a long driveway Monday that should cost $450 because of the degree of difficulty and the fact it would likely take an hour to complete.

"He's not going to be happy, so I'll probably end up charging $300," Beebe said. "You can charge whatever you want, but you may never get a call back. So you say, 'This is what I should charge, but this is what I'm going to charge.'"