Stoneham waits as state decides how to punish NStar
Published on December 5th, 2001
STONEHAM , MA- The state plans to force NStar to return millions of dollars to angry customers, but money won’t change hands for months.
“It will probably be a springtime decision,” estimated Gene Sullivan, the Department of Energy and Telecommunications (DTE) Commissioner who ran the Nov. 26 public hearing in Stoneham.
The DTE has nearly $4 million on the table and a lot of hungry mouths to feed. NStar provides electrical service to 80 Massachusetts communities, and many of them have suffered frequent outages. Stoneham residents lost power 116 times between January 2000 and September 2001 and 21 more times since then, including Thanksgiving. Citizens want their money back for lost services, and businesses want reimbursement for their losses. The Stoneham Theatre alleges a $12,000 loss due to NStar power outages this summer.
State Senator Richard Tisei (R-3rd Middlesex) took his lead from the Stoneham Selectmen, who had been deluged with calls about NStar failures, and put pressure on the DTE to set NStar straight.
In response NStar has begun to inspect and repair its infrastructure. According to NStar Lead Engineer Amin Jessa, Stoneham repairs should be complete by Dec. 31. NStar has also filed a self-assessment report using the DTE’s formula to determine the loss to customers. NStar spokesperson Mike Durand said the formula considers reliability of service and the level of customer service. He said NStar came up with a $3.9 million figure.
How and to whom this money will be returned is still unknown. The DTE must determine how to distribute the money among the many communities involved and then among the various residential and commercial customers within those communities. After the DTE decides who should be reimbursed, the department must then determine how to return the money. Refund checks, or reduced rates going forward are two options, according to Sullivan.
“NStar will honor their decision,” Durand said.
But Sullivan emphasized that no decision has been made. “We have to talk about this,” he said.
One final public meeting on NStar will be held on Jan. 17 at the DTE offices at South Station. The rest of the talking will be behind closed doors.
The DTE will be talking for some time before Stoneham sees any action, but in the end citizens should have the restitution they crave... and deserve.
Meanwhile, Stoneham officials are researching the cost of becoming a customer of the Reading Municipal Light Department.
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