YOUR COMMENTS

My husband, daughter and I, along with a couple of neighbors, were excited to hear that the power was back on in our rural homes on late Monday afternoon. The bad news for us is that the neutral wasn't turned on properly near our house by the PSNH teams, and a surge of 220V looped back incorrectly through all the 110 circuits in the walls, affecting at least two homes behind the loop affected by the error. Luckily, our landlord showed up, along with the fire department (as we were staying in Salem MA with friends), in the nick of time, just before our house burned down (and by an act of God, he didn't get electrocuted by touching the furnace first). After going back home to see and smell the electrical smoke residue, along with blackened soot emanating from plugs and surge suppressors onto our floors, we and our neighbors were told that we cannot use any available electricity without PSNH, the fire department, and a team of electricians working together to determine whether or not our homes are still habitable. We might also need to have the walls completely rewired, and to replace everything, from stoves to electronic equipment, (anything that happened to be plugged in at the time).

We and our neighbors appreciate the difficulty and the dedication required for PSNH to take on the resolution of such an unprecedented emergency so quickly; however, we would have much preferred to wait patiently a few more days or weeks for power than risk that fatigue or carelessness on the part of the workers would lead to an electrical disaster for about 10 or 15 of us.
- Diana Sargent, Amherst

PSNH announced that power was going to be restored to 95% of Derry residents by 12/17 which did not happen.

They only restored power to 1000 customers from yesterday to today, far from the 95%, so now the estimate is for 12/19

On 12/19 we will get about 1 foot of snow, so who are they kidding?

I'm completely disgusted with PSNH's incompetence with this situation, starting from their management

Everybody wants to praise the workers working long shifts, but forget they could have worked a lot less if they took care of the lines during the year

Not only that, they seem to be really enjoying the overtime and the shift differential by working at night as much as they can

People should wake up
- DR, Derry, NH

To AH in Wilton...you don't know much about power delivery. Burying anything electric at main line distribution levels costs more than you can imagine and is dangerous in the extreme. Will you pay for it in your bill? PSNH has a very agressive tree-trimming program, but is hampered by many land owners who like their trees. Reinforcing poles? How? Do you know how much force a falling tree has?
- Jim, Manchester

We are going on day 7 without power. Each day the utility companies give us another "estimate" as to when we will have power. I know they are working hard, its just frustrating. What a wonderful Christmas this will be without power. Doesnt feel much like a happy one this year, but one we will always remember. At least we are all coming together, that may be the only good thing to come out of any of this. Families are spending time together and neighbors are getting to know one another. Hopefully we all have power soon and can enjoy our holiday!
God bless
- Martha, Kingston

mike in derry---dont call someone an idiot to suggest the govt regulate the power company...it does already knucklehead
thats what the public utilities commision does! and they make 86,000 a year doing it! wow this is all so over your head, get politicaly responsible before you start quoting live free or die
- mike, meredith

First, my deepest appreciation to the Derry Police and Fire Departments, PSNH and out of state (and some out of country) line crews and Comcast who have worked to restore our lives to "normal"

The ice storm last Thursday was devastating to many households in New Hampshire. Responses to the storm caused damage showcase the character and values of New Hampshire Residents.

Some individuals were proactive in determining their fate following the storm. In this group, which I belong, responses included such activities as: clearing downed trees NOT touching power lines, calling PSNH to report specific locations of downed lines, helping neighbors clear trees, seeking alternate power and/or heating sources, offering shelter to friends and neighbors, and possibly even taking a thermos of coffee to a line crew working on a nearby street. Individuals in this group adapt to survive in the challenges created by the storm. These same individuals are likely successful in most of their endeavors in life and overall happy.

Others decided to let fate dictate their outcome. These people complain: “why wasn’t PSNH prepared for the storm”, Why doesn’t the government regulate the power company?, why aren’t the line crews on my street?, etc, etc….They likely did little to clear downed trees not touching power lines to make their street more accessible or find ways to cooperatively work with their neighbors. In other life situations, these same people will react similarly and are likely unhappy as they are not proactive in determining their own outcome.

In response to some of the loony left comments:

Mark in Ipswich wrote, “Why wasn’t PSNH prepared?” Mark, why weren’t YOU prepared? PSNH secured several hundred additional line crews to respond to the storm. Considering the damage done by the storm, they are restoring power at an impressive rate. If you have a solution, i.e. an achievable goal that would help PSNH be more prepared for the next significant storm I bet they would welcome your constructive comments. Do you honestly think PSNH, a for profit company, doesn’t want to have your power back on ASAP so they can bill you?

Mike in Chester, You are an idiot to suggest the government regulate the power company. You want the companies to be forced to have the man power “readily available” to respond to such a disaster? Consider the incredible cost of employing several hundred skilled workers. When they aren’t needed, which most recently would be from 1998 until 2008, what should they do? Do you want to have your electric bill skyrocket to pay them? Mike, you forgot to take or failed physics or common sense 101. Even if there were 1000 companies when the storm hit, breaks in lines prevent power transmission. How would having several power companies in the current situation improve the outcome? We would have multiple companies competing for limited resources (linemen and other skilled workers) and several companies trying to direct the response. Perhaps you could next suggest the government outlaw ice storms. Next time you drive; have a look at any New Hampshire license plate. Notice on it the state motto, Live Free or Die. Like Mark in Ipswich, if you have a specific plan for a more effective response to future crises please share it with PSNH.
- Michael Layon, East Derry

the Governor(paid by and voted in by us) should call the three commisioners at the Public Utilities Commision, (appointed by the Governor, $86,000 a year salery paid by us) and have them ask questions to the power companies( paid by us for service) like why was the main trunk lines for power so vulnerable and how much os spent on preventative maintenance? it can rain in january, folks, get ready for another one next week!
- mike, meredith

PSNH-greedy and unprepared. when will the next shut off notices be mailed out? i bet as soon as the power is restored. sad situation
- john, hooksett

Got a call that my cousin in East Derry had his neighbors lights turned back on around 7pm. I decided to take a drive to my home and no such luck. I also decided to take a drive through Derry and see if i could tell a cut off point.

It seems the cutoff point is the East Derry fire station on East Derry Road. Homes West of that fire station don't have power but homes East of that fire station seem to have gotten their power back, atleast from what i could see from the main road.

Guess i'm just in the 5% today. hopefully that will change considering there is no real downed lines between my home and the main lines that just went up.
- BB, Derrt

I'm sitting here in the dark typing this on my dial up line powered by a generator. I'm furious. In this day of technology where we can go to google and find out what the gas prices are realtime all gas stations near me, it befuddles me that we can't go on line to see a map of the power grid and what is on off. That alone of course doesn't help get my power on more quickly but its INFORMATION. There seems to be a consistent theme in this blog and elsewhere about a lack of information driving people crazy. How on earth can we...or SHOULD we be lacking information from anyone we buy a service from? Furthermore, you can bet that if Electric service wasn't a MONOPOLY to your house, you'd see companies scrambling to compete to get your power up or customers will leave. No can do with electric companies. I'm most frustrated with PSNHs lack of transparency. Twitter and flickr doesn't cut it. I want to know WHAT is going on, WHERE and WHAT THE LOGIC is for going to stree A vs Steet B beyond the lame methapor of a tree and its branches. Do I live on a trunk or a twig? Who knows? We need to band together and push PSNH to become more transparent and accountable. I am deeply discusted with all this. Good luck to everyone still without power.
- Andy Stahly, Londonderry

Union Leader, would you please add updates from the Peterboro area to include the hard-hit towns like Lyndeborough and Francestown. I'd also be interested to hear how the I-89 corridor communities and the Upper Valley are faring.

For those of you who are still without power, bless you. There but for the grace of God go we. Your experiences have provided some valuable insight for emergency preparedness for all of us.

A big thank you to PSNH and the out-of-state utilities for working around the clock to get power back to as many people as you could as fast as you could.
- JA, Hooksett

There was an editorial in the Globe today about how cruel and ignorant posters in forums such as these can be. Have an opinon- that's your right. We're lucky that in this country, you also have a right to state that opinion. But just because you have the right to say something doesn't mean it should be said.

What's going on here is a combination of many, many things- there is no single person or even entity to "blame" for this. Instead, EVERYONE needs to take a bit of personal responsibility and learn from his or her personal mistakes. Not only that, everyone also needs to recognize that perfection is NOT a human characteristic, and not jump down someone's throat when they mistakenly state something that ends up not being true.

My personal wrongdoings include not having adequate water in my home, not following the lead of my neighbors and adding a fireplace when we drew up the plans to build the house, and not even ever considering for one moment that I'd ever need either of those two things. Born and raised 150 miles north of here, you'd think I'd know those things, but I didn't. That is my fault. It is my intention to learn from my mistakes.

On the other end, I have gone out of my way during all of this to thank those who are helping, even if what they say or do isn't really the help I need.

Take a moment to help. It serves much more purpose than complaining. There are a billion ways to help, and you don't have to help your neighbor that drives you nuts or even your town or even another human- plenty of animals are dealing with this, too.

Instead of being left with a group of angry individuals, we have an opportunity to come out from under this as a group of people both beaming with pride regarding their helpful contributions and also overflowing with knowledge- about storms, the guy down the road, how a power grid works, how to hook up a new generator, how to make a sufficient emergency kit, etc...

Yes, crisis is inconvenient to modern life- but the potential to end up a better human being far exceeds the inconvenience.
- Ashley, New Boston

I am as frustrated as the next one. I drive down a street with lights on to get to mine w/out lights. I do think, though that the towns that are resuming school in towns where power has not been restored completely are being irresponsible. If power has not been restored it should go without saying that power lines are still down and that is not a safe situation for children. With debris still everywhere kids will need to walk out info the street to get to bus stops. I think resuming classes should be reconsidered. Does not seem like a good decision to me.
- In the Dark, Hampstead

When you have an electric system that has taken years to create and with more and more people moving to New Hampshire and increasing the size why do people find it so hard to understand it takes times when the whole system is destroyed. Take a chill pill and be thankful it was only power and not a storm that destroyed your house.
- Bill, Manchester

Thank you to Santa Clause and Santa's Village for bringing a little magic to all of the people affected by this horrible storm. What a generous offer to bring people to where there is power and give them the joy of the Christmas holiday season.
- Jen, Jefferson, NH

To Mike in Chester: I do not think we need more electric companies. I certainly don't want to pay the overhead of more companies on my electric bill.

Unlike some, I took responsibility for myself and made sure I had a sufficiently sized generator for my personal needs and the fuel to run it. While I don't like having had to run my generator for 6 days, I know that I'm responsible for myself and took an appropriate course of action.
- Dan, Manchester

I was told today that I had not reported my outage and that might be why I have not been restored. However, I did report my outage on Friday. My entire street and other streets around me are all out. Stressful.
- powerless in, Derry NH

anyone know anything about tsienneto rad in derry?? half the road is restored but my half isn't. Im still wondering why they stopped half way on that road. I know PSNH is working hard but im starting to feel not as positive on the 6th day with out power...all i can do is hope when i go home from work I will see the light...or at least by christmas :(
- Keeping my head up, derry

What about Amherst? There has been a feeder line down on Merrimack road since Last Thursday. Fixing that wire will restore 50 homes. What about us??
- James, Amherst

- LK, HAMPSTEAD NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND RELAX. All of the replentishment parts were sitting in New Orleans and LA.!! Besides, who has several thousand insulators and wooden telephone poles and cable in thier warehouse, locally? Just relax and it (power) will come to you. I assure you the power crews are working as hard and long as they safely can. It's tough to get used to luxeries such as running water, heat and reading lights; and be without them for so long...5 days. In that amount of time, you could have driven to Florida!
- George W, Wilton, NH

I am sure that as the larger towns are done, us smaller towns will get the benefit of having all these crews at our disposal. It is amazing how much we have come to rely on electricity for everything.

Hope everyone is safe. I don't have power in my house, but I have great family who is letting us stay with them. :D Family is safe, can't complain.
- Chris B, Deering

To JN in Merrimack, good plan but I've heard that it's a medical fact that you'll freeze to death quicker if you've been drinking, but on the bright side, you won't care. Incidentally, the various outlaws that this storm has produced may have been making the assumption that the prison has a generator. Remember, those crooks have civil rights, brought to them by the good taxpayers of N.H.
- Mo, Derry

My understanding is the PSNH crews are working 12 hour shifts with three hour breaks until the work is done. I appreciate their effort.

Why wasn't PSNH prepared? It's the worst storm on record, with three times the outages of the 1998 storm. We still don't have power in New Ipswich, with many of the roads still impassable.

I, too, have heard the two more weeks rumor. The PSNH site doesn't even provide an estimate for when power will be back.

We are frustrated. We'd like an accurate estimate for completion. Generators can only do so much, and we're slaves to them as they require gas two or three times each day... 7 gallons each time.
- Mark, New Ipswich, nh

I'm seeing utility trucks on my street which a very welcome event. I also see from the PSNH update that New Boston is down to about 800 customers without power, pretty darn good progress has been made in my town over the last two days.

I'm hoping the power to my home is restored within the next couple of days but even if it isn't we will be ok because we were prepared with backup power and heat systems. I'm glad we made the investment in these items when we moved to New Hampshire, because when you need them you need them.
- M.P., New Boston

Some of you posters need to get a grip. Weather happens. It was an ice storm. It was a bad ice storm. I have no power and had to cross 5 downed lines to get in to work today. I'm not having fun with this at this point. But calling for government regulation? Screaming for heads? Who in heck pampered you clowns to this point in your life that you have such a sick sense of entitlement? Would you like a BGE crew to swing by your house and cook you a nice meatloaf or perhaps have Unitil scrape your car's windshield off too?

Man up.
- JB, NB, NH

It seems like PSNH and the state itself were woefully unprepared for an event of this magnitude. After the events of 9-11 people at the Federal and State level wanted us to believe they were more prepared for emergency events. It seems like they have failed this test miserably seven years later.
- Chris, Rochester

Anything at all on the Greenville/New Ipswich / Mason area? I have seen nothing for a couple of days now on here. I called PSNH on the 2 weeks until power rumor and they at first acted shocked, but the rep called me back and said they couldn't confirm 2 weeks but it could definately be "days" and we should seek alternative shelter.
- Jessica, Greenville

Can you please ask PSNH why, in this day & age, weren't they prepared for this storm? Why did it take 7 days to get restoration supplies to PSNH?
- LK, HAMPSTEAD60

As of 12/17/08 @ 2:50 p.m. still no power and no updates on Hampstead. Where are the "round-the-clock" crews I keep hearing about? We've been without power for 7 days now and PSNH has not been forthcoming with any information on restoration except to give an estimated date - they can't tell us if crews are in the area and/or if crews are working on our area. I have lost my patience with PSNH. In this day and time, it is unreasonable and unacceptable for any town to lose their power for this length of time. Whoever is running PSNH should be investigated and he should lose his job. PLEASE GET THE POWER BACK ON IN HAMPSTEAD ASAP!
- LK, HAMPSTEAD

Around the clock is a misnomer. Please ask PSNH why work schedules aren't staggered and rotated so they are actually working around the clock (i.e. one crew gets their 8 hour break while others are still working)
- Bob, Londonderry

Why no updates on Londonderry? 20,000 residents..not a small town
- sb, Londonderry

Does anyone have an update on Atkinson?? Island Pond Rd has power, but we are off of there and have nothing. It is not listed in the town-by-town on this blog.
To all those complaining, I feel your pain, I'm tired and aggravated. To all those telling people to stop complaining, I feel that frustration too--I don't want to hear it either. Everyone deals with things differently...
- Tanya, Atkinson

Thank you to the Connecticut Utility Crew for restoring power to the upper part of Mountain School Rd, Fieldstone Cir, Gettings Rd and Cram Rd. You made my Christmas
- RWilliams, Weare

"crews continue to focus today on the added priority of working with the Office of Emergency Management to clear debris from closed roadways, in order to help clear the path for snow plows"

What is going on here? I hope like h3ll linemen, from in state and out of state, aren't clearing roads. Sure, verifying that the road is safe (power lines are dead) to remove the debris but if they are hauling trees off the road... well, we got a problem Concord.

Maybe someone should ask the utility executives about this.

Oooo, another question. How much damaged equipment had to be replaced, so far? Poles, Xformers and other electrical "thing a ma gigs"? What is the estimated cost for the damaged equipment replacement?

Guess that was 3 more questions. ;-)
- mary, Nashua

I have not seen any power trucks for 6 days now in Hampstead. I have no power and transformers are down.
Where are they?
- PB, Hampstead

No sour grapes still without power lucky enough to have borrowed generator feel very blessed.
The frustrating thing i do not know the source of where our electricty is but surveying our neighborhood ther is no visible damage and the frustrating thing in five days have never seen a utility truck. wouldnt it be easier to take care of the easier problems
- michelle frawley, hooksett

Seeing how the storm has effected virtually everything in this state and all of its communities don't you think it is time for a change?
This just goes to show the state and all of its citizens how unprepared we are as a whole. This damage that has occured to the powersupply infrastructure shows that PSNH was not prepared for such a large scale disaster. Would you not agree that it is time for the governement to step in and regulate the electric industry? Would it not make sense for the governement to set in rules and regulations limiting the amount of customers and the size of the area one company can have?
I think that it is outrageous that so many people were without power for so long. There should be regulations that dictate how large of an area and how many customers any one supplier can have. The regualtions should also include requirements for the companies themselves, making it an obligation for them to have the man power and equipment readily available for another disaster like this.

It isn't new, we do live in New England you would think they would be more able to deal with such a situation.

If the grid was split up amongst several different companies that had the man power and equipment ready to deal with this, people would not still be out of power.

What do you think?
- Mike, Chester

First, although inconvenient and unpleasant, the utilities have done an admirable job of restoring power as quickly as possible given the scope of the problem. Mutual aid seems to work well. as it did in 98

How will PSNH do a better job of reporting known outages? The NH Electric co-op has very detailed maps showing where customers are without power and the severity of the outages. Why can't PSNH do something similar?

How will PSNH get specific information to customers in the event of an extended outage? It is very frustrating to call and get a recorded message 24/7 for 5 days in a row with no info. I know that it is difficult or impossible to know how long it will take to restore power, but it would be extremely helpful if PSNH could provide some kind of information about approximately where and when crews are being dispatched. GPS-enabled trucks perhaps? That would be helpful in planning during these outages. A one-day outage versus a 5-day outage changes our disaster recovery plan.

Going forward, what steps will PSNH and other utilities take to prevent extended outages? Here in Merrimack, it seems to be an annual occurrence to lose power for 3-4 days.
- Jim, Merrimack

It's troublesome to see low life taking advantage of the power situation to steal from people. I just hope these idiots realize that many of us in NH may be sitting in a dark cold house, but we are also residing with our friend Mr Smith & Mr Wesson.

So you low life's need to think long and hard about breaking into a dark home...especially in NH!
- Mike, Lee

Can you ask them to make sure the call center doesn't give out misleading information to its customers? I recieved some misleading information this morning from a man at the PSNH call center concerning the removal of trees branches from power lines. He told me that I had to ask my town to come and remove them before any work could be done. I contact my town's highway department and they told me that they don't remove the branches from wires because PSNH told them not to. I was told by my town that PSNH had to do it. When I called back and spoke to someone, a very nice woman, they told that PSNH would take care of the tree branch removal. I just want to make sure no one else gets such misleading information because it does add on the stress of the situation. The nice woman couldn't understand why the man told me that to get the wires fixed the town had to remove the branches first. I'm glad we got everything figured out I just don't want to see this happen to anyone else. Thank you.
- Sara, Dover

I would like to know what PSNH is doing to prevent outages of the magnitude from happening again. Everything from burying power lines and reinforcing poles to more aggressive tree trimming could've mitigated this disaster.
- AH, Wilton

I'd like to know from PSNH if there's any truth to the rumor that the small towns like mine won't see power until the new year.
- BW, Greenfield

JM,

Don't forget about the 4 seasons of California: fires, floods, earthquakes and riots. :) Even more dangerous, you should see those drivers try to drive in the rain!

Every place has its own natural disaster, and we should all be prepared for that. I still keep an "earthquake kit" which isn't ideal for an ice storm, but works a lot better than no plan. With the addition of a generator (Sunday), it makes a pretty nice winter storm kit and probably an even better earthquake kit. I'm not patting myself of the back, because we could have done a lot better, but I know we'll be able to avoid disaster and any significant loss of property. Like someone said yesterday, not as good as some but not as bad as others.
- Erica, Derry

I think I will move to California where people think it is cold when the temps drop into the 40's. This state and weather are nuts.
- JM, Windham

Come on people, when I was a kid I had to walk to school, 3 miles in a snow storm, uphill each way....!! Rather than complaining about the utility people day in and day out (who by the way are doing their best), do something to help yourself. Be prepared with a generator, food, go to a shelter. All of this "poor me" attitude of being out of power for however many days. Why don't you use this time of not being able to sit in front of the television and do something good for yourself, neighbors, and the community to keep busy. There is always going to be someone who is the last to get their power back. You may be unlucky this time, but deal with it.
- Joe, Conway

I think most of the people in NH have been fantastic and I'm proud to be a resident of this state. That idiot is the exception to the rule.
- SD, Derry

Thats the way to make it through this tough time, get hammered, assult the utility crews and get arrested! I cant believe the caliber of people we have in NH. Silly me sat im my dark house for 5 days at 45-50 degrees feeding a fire. I shouldve gotten drunk and blamed everyone else!
- JN, Merrimack