Most of the remaining power outages in Connecticut from Tropical Storm Henri, primarily concentrated in the eastern part of the state serviced by Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES), will be restored by late Monday, according to the utility.

Eversource reported that 1,730 out of its 1.28 million customers in Connecticut were without power as of 5 p.m. Monday. Its crews — boosted by thousands of additional utility workers from Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Canada — have restored power to more than 67,000 customers. Crews also repaired or replaced 44 broken poles, removed more than 240 trees and restrung more than 25 miles of downed wire. Eversource said it prepared for up to 69% of customers in Connecticut to lose power during the storm and that restoration work could last as long as three weeks.

To facilitate restoration efforts, Eversource prepositioned crews in cities and towns across Connecticut and at multiple staging areas across the state, including the Pratt & Whitney airfield in East Hartford.

Eversource spokesperson Tricia Taskey Modifica told RTO Insider that “we were fortunate that Tropical Storm Henri didn’t materialize as expected here in Connecticut” and “planned accordingly.”

“We knew our communications efforts were a key element in the response and worked to be sure they were where we believe they needed to be,” Taskey Modifica said. “We coordinated with Gov. [Ned] Lamont, state officials and all 149 communities we serve.”

Taskey Modifica added that once restoration work finishes, Eversource will “thoroughly review our storm preparation and response to identify any areas where we can improve.”

“Our customers expect a great deal from us,” Taskey Modifica said. “We understand that and take that responsibility very seriously.”

United Illuminating (UI) (NYSE:AGR), which serves the greater New Haven and Bridgeport areas of Connecticut, has 47 outages out of more than 340,000 customers. UI also doubled the size of its field crews ahead of the storm, including line workers, tree trimming and damage assessment teams. In addition, UI pre-staged crews throughout its service territory to limit travel to damaged locations.

In Rhode Island, where the storm made landfall near Westerly on Sunday, National Grid (NYSE:NGG) had 24,476 outages from approximately 500,000 customers, including 21,298 in Washington County. National Grid estimated that power would be restored to most of its customers by late Wednesday morning. (See related story, Conn., RI Take Substantial Hit from Tropical Storm Henri.)

PURA’s Preliminary Assessment

Marissa Gillett, chair of the Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, told RTO Insider that she has positive initial assessments of the utilities’ preparation and performance for the storm. Gillett said she has not heard any of the widespread communication “horror stories” with customers and municipal officials that followed Tropical Storm Isaias last August, which knocked out power to hundreds of thousands and led to nine days of restoration work. Gillett added that while Connecticut did not take a direct hit from Henri, the prepositioning of restoration resources by Eversource and UI was “significantly better” than what she saw last year.

In the aftermath of Isaias, Eversource and UI made changes mandated by the Take Back Our Grid Act, which directed the PURA to develop and implement performance-based regulations, including fines and reduced returns on equity. In addition, the PURA recently finalized a $28.6 million civil penalty and annual profit reductions of about $31 million against Eversource following an investigation into its Isaias response. Eversource has appealed the ROE reduction in state court. Still, the preparation for Henri, and Tropical Storm Elsa earlier this summer, indicates to Gillett that the legislative and regulatory remedies are getting through to the utilities.

“I would really like to believe that they have received the message, but more importantly, if they haven’t received the message, I think PURA and the legislature and the governor have demonstrated that we’re capable of reinforcing that message should it need to be,” Gillett said.

One point that Gillett said she is still trying to drive home with Eversource and UI is that she is happy to collaborate on enhancing emergency response and grid resilience programs. But ultimately, she is the utilities’ chief regulator and has to deliver an objective assessment of their performances.

“I think there’s a negative connotation associated with having tension in the relationship; I think there should always be tension,” Gillett said. “It’s my job to drive them to do better.”