Connecticut can reduce its vulnerability to future prolonged power outages if utilities make use of modern information technology such as iPads and geo-spatial data to guide repair crews, increase available line crews by making use of local electricians, retired linemen, trained firemen and others, and invest in stronger utility poles and coated wires.

Those were some of the recommendations state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel C. Esty made Wednesday to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's Two Storm Panel.

The panel will use testimony from Esty and others in crafting recommendations it will submit to Malloy in the coming weeks about how the state can better respond to future events like Tropical Storm Irene in August and the October nor'easter. The two storms caused widespread power outages across the state.

In his criticisms and recommendations, Esty specifically targeted the state's two largest power utilities, Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating.

"The utilities did not fully pre-deploy resources in advance of the (October) storm, and were caught flat-footed when the storm actually hit," Esty said. "Crews need precise electronic maps and work orders - and cutting-edge communications to utility managers - to be effective."

He said that given the likelihood that the frequency of extreme weather events will increase, there is a great need for "new preparedness and adaptation strategies for the state's utilities." Esty's agency includes the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, which oversees CL&P and UI. Adequate investments have not been made in energy efficiency, storm preparation, tree trimming and infrastructure improvements, Esty said.

Esty also said that the costs and benefits of the recommendations should be weighed against a comprehensive total of the costs of the storms. That would include not just the costs of restoring wires and poles, but also the costs of debris removal, lost wages, spoiled food, hotel costs for residents forced out of their homes, lost business and diminished productivity.

Mitch Gross, spokesman for CL&P's parent company, Northeast Utilities, said the company had no comment on Esty's testimony.

Esty's testimony also included these observations and recommendations:

• Municipal officials need more and better real-time information about the status of storm repairs.

• Utilities could begin replacing overhead wires with underground ones, keeping costs down by doing the work when water, sewer, gas and fiber optic lines are being installed or replaced. "When combined, all of these sub-surface investments may present sufficient overall economic benefit to be cost effective," he said.

• Investments in "more robust" poles and wires are needed. PURA could mandate the replacement of non-coated wires still in use on more than half the state's poles with coated ones that are less susceptible to outages. Poles should be planted deeper and reinforced with steel or cement.

• Statewide tree-trimming standards are needed.

• Small-scale power centers should be established, so that town centers or other critical areas such as neighborhoods with hospitals or sewage treatment plants have independent power sources such as fuel cells or gas turbines.

• A "smart grid" system should be phased in, to provide more reliable information about outages.

j.benson@theday.com