State tells Unitil to repay $4.6m

But the DPU report condemning Unitil did little to satisfy state officials and the company’s customers, who have called for an overhaul of state laws and policies and for tougher punishment for the utility. Their anguish is bound to keep Unitil within the public focus as hearings continue in the Legislature and before the DPU.

“I don’t think you can fine them enough,’’ said Senator Jennifer L. Flanagan, a Democrat whose district includes Unitil’s customer base.

The Lunenburg-based group Get Rid of Unitil Now, which filed a petition seeking the company’s ouster, said: “All we have ever asked for was fairness and parity. We are still waiting.’’

“They just don’t care, and the DPU has known this for years,’’ said Michael Bursch, a member of the group.

While Bursch said customers have complained for years, the company has come under much scrutiny since December, when an ice storm left all of its 28,500 customers in the Greater Fitchburg area without power, some for as long as two weeks. At the time, Unitil officials attributed the loss in service to what it called an unprecedented storm: Statewide, more than 208,000 customers of several companies loss their electricity.

But much of the criticism centered on Unitil, with customers complaining of poor tree maintenance programs, customer service, and emergency response plans, including communication and tree removal.

Governor Deval Patrick, who interceded in the emergency response after a week without power and elicited the help of outside companies in the restoration, ordered a state investigation at the time. Unitil was the only utility company that was the focus of DPU hearings.

Unitil released a statement yesterday saying it had commissioned audits on its own after the storm, hired an independent consultant, and has implemented new management policies in the last year. The statement said the “company is reviewing its orders and assessing its options.’’

In yesterday’s report, the culmination of months of public testimony and hearings, the DPU ruled that the company’s performance had a lack “of planning and training for a significant storm event, which left it unprepared to respond to the magnitude of damage caused by the storm.’’

The DPU ordered Unitil to commission, at its own expense, a comprehensive audit addressing management and control, among other measures. The order was only the second of its kind the DPU has ordered in 50 years, the agency said.

In a separate order, the DPU ordered Unitil to refund customers $4.6 million for an inappropriate gas procurement system. Under that system, utility companies are supposed to lock into proper contracts to control energy prices during times of high demand.

But the DPU did not issue a fine related to the December ice storm, infuriating customers who have gone as far as to call for the removal of the utility company.

Only months ago, the attorney general, acting as the consumer advocate, had called for the company to be fined $4.6 million, which is not related to the gas procurement.

According to Paul J. Hibbard, chairman of the DPU, the department had no authority to issue a fine under the investigation that was set up as a result of the December ice storm.

He said the DPU’s findings and the results of the audit will be factored into future hearings, for example, when the company seeks a rate increase.

Also, the company is expected within the next year to seek to recover costs of responding to the storm, which would need DPU approval.

The company has said that the storm cost about $10 million.

“In terms of there being a serious public service responsibility, this is something that’s looked at harshly by the department,’’ Hibbard said. “There is an expectation here, and Unitil failed.’’

While saying that the company did deserve a fine, he said that “all of the findings in our order regarding the company’s failure to meet public service requirements will factor into the company’s request of a rate increase.’’

Still, the report did little to temper moods yesterday.

Flanagan, who has introduced legislation calling for tougher penalties for utility companies, said she was “appalled’’ by the limits of the DPU report and said that she will look to have legislation expand the department’s authority to penalize.

Patrick said in a statement yesterday that he does not believe the report goes far enough.

“I called for this investigation after seeing firsthand the dismal performance that left Unitil’s customers without power for two weeks,’’ he said. “The company needs to be held accountable for its performance and should have been fined for its gross failure of responsibility.’’

Attorney General Martha Coakley, who has called Unitil’s response to the storm inept, said that without imposing additional fines, the DPU “does little to hold Unitil accountable for its dismal response [to the storm] and shoddy treatment of its customers in the following weeks.’’

Milton Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com.