NStar Working To Correct Outage Problem
Susan Elpiner
Issue date: 10/11/01 Section: News
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 Media Credit: Allisun Reilly - DFP STAFF Walter Salvi, Dan Dristol and Craig Holstrom, all NStar employees, addressed the recent power outages with city councilors yesterday at City Hall. |
City councilors yesterday approved NStar’s recently announced plans to upgrade its systems, following a summer of numerous power outages.
NStar, Boston’s main power distributor, met with Councilors James Kelly (Chinatown-South Boston), Brian Honan (Allston-Brighton) and Mike Ross (Back Bay-Fenway) at City Hall to discuss the issue in a Committee on City and Neighborhood Service public hearing.
The councilors had each filed a separate order for a hearing with NStar, citing individual complaints about the company’s service.
“The amount of electricity being used is at an all time high,” Kelly said. “Why was this not factored into the improvements being made?”
Honan called the meeting an “educational hearing so the people of Boston won’t have to suffer a large power outage.”
Ross said the recent outages were “one of those issues if you don’t watch carefully, it will get away from you.”
“Don’t think of this is as a witch-hunt, but as a ‘Where do we go from here?’” Ross told NStar.
After the blackouts this summer, Ross and the other city councilors said this was the time to examine NStar’s policies.
NStar asserts the direct causes for the major blackouts this summer are not known. The blackouts hit the city Aug. 10-12, affected Kenmore Square, Audobon Circle, Mission Hill, Hyde Park, Mattapan, Brighton and Dorchester.
In response to these outages, NStar is consolidating several years of plans into one. $25 million will be spent in addition to the company’s usual maintenance expenditures.
BU is not dependent on NStar as a power provider, according to BU spokesman Colin Riley. Under its policy of deregulation, BU has the ability to shop around for a power source and use a broker.
BU currently purchases electricity directly from a generator, but power is still distributed through NStar’s wiring.
As a large institution, the University uses a substantial amount of energy, Riley said, adding BU would want timely notification of power outages to ensure the University is prepared for an emergency.
Honan said the situation in Boston is not similar to California’s power outages this summer.
“I don’t think [this] power outage is to that extent,” Honan said. “I think [this] outage had more to do with wires and how electricity is transferred, rather than a lack of energy. Boston is an old city with a lot of old cables and wires.”
Kelly said the power outages were a health risk for seniors and asserted they hurt local businesses. He also described an apparent lack of communication about the outages.
Paul Afonso, a lawyer representing the Department of Telecommunications and Energy, which is investigating NStar, said, “We have to inspect 100 years of a somewhat inefficient system.”
“[The] market is in balance,” Afonso said. “Inefficiencies have to be slowly rooted out of the system but not at the expense of talented workers.”