Crucial protections for our communities have been lacking for far too long – and this legislation provides much-needed safeguards for our communities. If a utility company is severely underperforming, this legislation gives the state the authority to put a receiver in place to run the company temporarily and hire, fire, or reorganize management. It deters future negligence by utilities by giving the Department of Public Utilities the ability to impose financial penalties in the event of their failure to uphold their obligation to provide safe and reliable service.
The majority of problems surrounding Unitil’s response to the storm were caused by a failure of higher management. Unitil failed to implement an emergency response plan, failed to quickly restore services, and threatened the health, safety, and welfare of its customers. What’s worse is that in the months following the destruction in North-central Massachusetts Unitil did not recognize this failure and change their leadership; instead they gave their CEO a performance-based bonus. With the passage of this legislation, we have put management on notice that their jobs are not guaranteed if they are not performing.
Given the depth of destruction that resulted from the extended outages and the disregard for emergency response which is so crucial to protect consumers, the delegation from that area: Representatives Jennifer Benson, Robert Rice, Robert Hargraves, Stephen DiNatale, and Senator Jennifer Flanagan have all made it a priority this year to be sure that action was taken to prevent a failure like this from ever happening again.
This is New England – an ice storm of the magnitude that happened last December in Fitchburg, Lunenburg, Ashby, and Townsend could happen anywhere in our state. We can deal with the weather, but we should not have to deal with negligence by utility companies. We are pleased that the Department of Public Utilities will now have the tools they need to hold utility companies accountable for their actions, and that our constituents won’t be left in the dark again.
