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AG seeks $4.6m fine for Unitil's ice storm response

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 5, 2009 12:59 PM

(Mark Wilson/Globe Staff/file)

Lunenburg homeowner Keith Starrett (left) displayed his feelings about Unitil Corp. in the snow in his front yard on Jan. 7 after being without power for 12 days following last December's massive ice storm.

By Globe Staff

Attorney General Martha Coakley today blasted Unitil Corp. for the electric utility's "ineptitude" after a massive ice storm last winter and filed paperwork pushing for a $4.6 million fine.

An investigation and a series of public hearings found that Unitil exacerbated problems from the Dec. 11 storm by "inappropriately" reducing its tree trimming program, having a "deficient" emergency response plan, and failing to invest in an outage management system. After the storm, the utility's initial damage assessment was "faulty," leaving the company unaware of the true damage to its system for more than a week, according to a press release issued by Coakley's office. These missteps were compounded, according to the release, when Unitil issued 4,000 estimated bills for December that it "knew to be inaccurately high" because of prolonged outages.

"Our office's most disturbing finding was that Unitil took no efforts during the outage to contact the 65 critical care customers who it knew depended on electricity for survival," Coakley said in a statement. "Only through strong remedial action and significant penalties will Unitil's ratepayers be protected from the company’s action -- and inaction -- in the future."

Coakley, who serves as ratepayer advocate for state consumers, filed a brief today seeking the $4.6 million fine with the state Department of Public Utilities, which is expected to rule on the case at a later date, according to the release.

The storm caused outages for all 28,500 of Unitil’s customers, leaving roughly one in five without electricity for a week and over 1,000 customers in the dark for 12 days or more. The company provides electricity in Fitchburg, Townsend, Lunenburg, and Ashby.