Unions: CL&P delayed restoring power

Linesmen for Connecticut Light & Power Co. alleged Monday that the company delayed restoring power during this weekend's nor'easter by avoiding paying them double time to work longer shifts.

The state Department of Public Utility Control, which regulates utilities, said Monday it has received about 20 complaints from consumers concerning CL&P's handling of storm outages. The DPUC says it will investigate those complaints.

About 44,600 of CL&P's 1.2 million customers remained without power at 10:30 p.m. on Monday, said CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross, who characterized the company's response to the destructive storm as aggressive. He also disputed the charges about paying overtime.

Rick Sank, a business manager for union Local 457 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said CL&P President and Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Butler directed linesmen in conference calls Sunday and Monday morning to work 16 hours on and eight hours off.

The move avoided paying linesmen double time but stalled the restoration of electricity to some customers, Sank said. CL&P ratepayers "get the highest rates in Connecticut, but (company officials) don't want to pay our people to work and get the power back on because it's going to cost them more money," he added.

Local 457 represents about 200 CL&P workers east of the Connecticut River.

"Customers are number one," replied Gross. "Safety is by and far number one. Our job is to get the lights back on and do it in the most efficient way we can."

John Unikas, business manager of IBEW Local 420, which represents about 300 workers west of the Connecticut River, said this is not the way the company has historically done business.

"There were 65,000 people without power (Sunday) night and the company only let 25 percent of the work force work overnight, and 75 percent were told to go home and get rest," Unikas said. "I've never seen anything like it."

In Old Saybrook, where power was still out for a few customers on Monday afternoon, Police Chief Michael Spera had to call in additional officers to secure areas where wires fell or were in danger of falling, in part because of a lack of available CL&P linesmen.

"It ties up law enforcement resources unnecessarily because we have to protect an unsafe scene longer," Spera said. "It certainly was a nontraditional response that we are not accustomed to from CL&P, and we have addressed those concerns with CL&P."

Gross added that Butler's reference to 16 hours on and eight off was not a "directive" but rather a reminder about standard operating procedure.

"The issue here is, when are (the linesmen) most productive and get the most customers (back) on in the shortest amount of time - that is, during daylight hours," Gross said. "We still have some crews at night; some on emergencies. That doesn't change."

Double time is normally paid after 16 hours worked, Sank said. Workers get time-and-a-half for more than eight hours and less than 16, he added.

The company does have latitude within the contract to specify that linesmen get rest after 16 hours worked, but in a storm like this recent one it's not fair to customers, Sank said. In some cases, linesmen had to leave a job unfinished when their shift was up, he added.

Gross disputed that claim.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said that, since management of costs is involved, he will recommend later this week that the DPUC investigate the issue as part of an ongoing rate case whose hearings began Monday.

Sank said he was pleased that the DPUC would investigate and "the public will finally know what's going on."

Sank and his colleague in Waterbury, Frank Cirillo, who is the assistant manager for IBEW Local 420, raised similar issues two weeks ago in Manchester, N.H., Sank said. Some CL&P crews were blocked from working longer hours after a storm there, according to Sank and the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper.

CL&P and Public Service of New Hampshire are both divisions of the Hartford-based Northeast Utilities.

"Now we have people down here working from New Hampshire, and I'm curious to see how they're going to be treated, if they're going to be working under the same guidelines," Sank said. "We'll see how that pans out. It's a poor way to run a storm, I got to tell you."

The DPUC has been in constant contact with the company, the governor's office and the state departments of Public Safety and Homeland Security and Emergency Management about how effectively and quickly power is being restored, said Phil Dukes, a DPUC spokesman.

Adam Liegeot, a spokesman for Gov. M. Jodi Rell, confirmed that and deferred to the DPUC, noting that Rell was in Greenwich and Stamford Monday in the storm's aftermath.

p.daddona@theday.com