YOUR COMMENTS

10 days with no power
Off @ 11PM Thursday 12/11/2008.
On @ 7PM EST 12/21/2008

It was a 3 minute fix to change the line fuse. Been calling PSNH for 7 days telling them that was the problem and now I have power.
- JD, Hampstead

Why is the no progress in Derry, Londonderry, Hampstead and Windham. Now these towns have the most outages left in the state and getting little attention.
- df, hampstead

hey john, i knew i'd be getting some backlash for that. a hurricane every couple years is nothing compared to 6 straight months of depressing, dark, cold and gloomy weather. if you want to laugh at us the next time there's a hurricane, your first chance will be in about 7-8 months from now. sorry, i'd love to chat further, but i gotta go to the beach for a barbecue and live reggae right now.
- sk, fort lauderdale, fl

I couldnt stand living in FL b/c of the humid air and hot temps..its nice for about a week. I like being outside, even in the snow in NH.
With that said, I am saddened to hear people are still w/o power. PSNH should of brought MORE people and independent contractors in the continue helping people. I think its alittle too much for people to deal with going on over a week w/o power....
- Christine, Manchester

Ft. Lauderdale, the next time Florida gets a hurricane we will all laugh at you, haha.

New England is one of best spots in the country to live as far as avoiding natural disasters. Snow and ice, pretty easy to deal with.
- John, Dover

Melanie - Thank you. You made some great suggestions.

Lew - I am a sane, rational person...
that's who I am to judge people attacking the ones trying to help them. If I went a week, or a month, without power, I would not be attacking utility workers. I would make arrangements for myself & for my pets. Some people need to learn how to cope with hardship.

Madalynne - Yes, they are being paid. No, they did not know, when hired, that there would be 12 hour work days for an undetermined length of time due to the worst power outage in the state's history.

A crew that came up to help, from a southern state, couldn't hack the cold & walked off the job. That's great for everyone's morale.
- Brandi, Manchester

why don't you just move to florida? it's 80 degrees and sunny here. ha ha ha!
- sk, fort lauderdale, fl

How about concern for the utility workers from out of state that have been there helping for over a week. Working 16 hours days and don't even have an idea if there will be lucky enough to go home to their families. This isn't their state but their helping out and they a bone tired now, working out in the cold and no family. Their families at home at dealing with the snow here and perhaps not having their loved ones home in time for Christmas. I say send them home by Tuesday. They can return if needed. The state needs to pull together and take care of the families remaining without power through neighboring communities. Isn't that what the true meaning of the holiday season is?
- out of state family, connecticut

Robert in Manchester...you are an example of what a NH's citizen DOESN'T REPRESENT! I'm sorry, but 10 hours without power?!?! My god there are people here going on 10 days. Did you even lose your power in Manchester after the ice storm? Do you know what it's like to babysit a house in the dark and cold for 10 days, because you are hear stories of scum bags breaking into empty homes? And if you own a generator do you know what it's like to have to fill it up every 6-10 hours to the point now that you've gotten use to smelling like gas, because you can't take a shower? Do you know what it's like going to work in the morning thinking that when you come home you'll have power only to see complete darkness? Do you know what its like to heat your house as much as you can at night only to wake in the morning to see it below 50 degrees! Do you know what it's like to have to go to an emergency shelter to get water everyday so you can flush your toilet?

I hope to god PSNH didn't pull line workers from areas that have been without power now for 10 days so that they could fix your power that was out for 10 hours!
- Mike, Epping

We're also among the lucky ones who have power. Two guys worked to re-hang the wires on the side of our house last night in the dark with the temp. at 15F and snow falling. They hung the wires without turning the power off, which I'm sure would have been safer and easier for them. I asked if they needed anything, but they said no and apologized they would make a bit of noise for an hour or so. Wow. That's service above and beyond.

My heart goes out to those who still don't have power, but it's coming.

To the huge majority of Granite staters who sucked it up and took care of themselves or went to public shelters, I applaud you. To all the volunteers and workers who are helping the needy and putting things back together, well done. What a contrast to some other well publicised natural disasters in recent years.

To those questioning PSNH management, it's fair to ask. When time allows, performance should be reviewed. We may find mistakes were made. We may find their performance was outstanding. I don't know. The damage is unprecedented, so can't be compared to past incidents.

I'm embarrased by the very few frustrated people lashing out at the repair crews. I wish the press wouldn't give these idiots coverage.
- Bob, Londonderry, NH

Robert from Manch, you just have to dial 603-669-4000 and then say "Customer Service" when prompted and you will get a representative on line. I lost my power for seven days and was a pain in their A**. I would call several times a day. Like you, I was completely frustrated with them and their inability to convey what was going on behind the scenes. The reps that you will get can basically only tell you if they are working on your circuit or not. Hope the number helps. Good luck!
- John, Hooksett

I am in agreement with Brandi from Manchester. Shelters are still open offering a place to sleep, hot showers, food, all the basic necessities for people and families to turn to while the various electric crews are out there trying to take care of this astronomical mess.

Imagine being one of them workers, outside. In 17 degree temperatures. Falling snow which reduces visability of what your doing, on roads that are compromised by the natural elements, during 12, 14, 16 hour shifts, only to be able to go home for 7-8 hours and then required to return outside again.

Its not the technicians' fault, its not the customer service representatives fault.... people need to STOP threatening peoples' lives, stop hindering the work these techs/reps are doing. These customers who were described in the article as baricading a utility truck, running them off the road, and jumping in the bucket truck refusing to get out... you should be arrested. You are NOT helping them, you are causing MORE DELAYS for them to do the work that is needed!

Robert K from Manchester: with all due respect. These representatives have managers they have to report to. If they have no new updated information to give, then they arent going to tell you anything more than the last update. If the last update remains on the automated system, then they dont have updated information as of yet and are trying to triage calls coming in if there are new areas becoming affected with more power loss.

They DIDNT leave thousands of people without power.. it was an act of Mother Nature that left thousands without power. This is where you need to realize your error. PSNH, like the other companies are well aware of the magnitude of what is going on. But NO ONE has the right to lay blame on the utilities for something that Mother Nature caused. They are human beings freezing their "insert-body-part(s)-here" off, who havent even had a chance to see THEIR families because they are trying to work hard at getting this power up so other people's families can go home again.

We have had only a few deaths.. it could have been alot worse. Be thankful there are resources available for those to turn to. Be thankful we do have representatives in Concord who are just as outraged as his people are and want better action and communication for his people. Governor Lynch is just as angry as you and the rest, but, you dont see him threatening the lives of utility workers or running them off the road.

People need to focus their negative attitudes and energy perhaps into doing some good.

Offer your home to a family to cook them a hot meal.
Help take care of their pet for them.
Offer a hot shower for them.

Give them that little taste of sanity that they truly need right now. Other people are doing this. Take a look at NH Craigslist online and you will see the many posts of generous people willing to help out those in need. That is where negative energy becomes positive... and that is what should be happening, Robert.
- Melanie, Manchester

Mr. Koenig,
You have obviously not waited the few seconds it takes to listen to the recorded message which is updated, although probably not as frequently as you'd like. After the message ends you are instructed how to reach a live operator. I reached one on Friday after a brief wait (4 minutes), Saturday (8 minutes), and again on Sunday morning (no wait). Every operator was professional and had helpful information. The operator on Sunday was able to tell me how many problems remained on my circuit (89) and how many crews were working on it (6). She encouraged me to call back again in a couple of hours when the crews would have come in with an update after working all night. Another operator told me that each circuit can be 20-30 MILES long, which helped me understand why it takes time for power to be restored, especially given the magnitude of damage throughout the southern half of the state.

The outage you experienced yesterday was, I believe, caused by a driver striking a pole that feeds the Malvern St. substation (as reported in the Union Leader). I'm certain that had you followed directions (perhaps you should take a lesson from those shivering children) you would have reached a live PSNH customer service representative.

The utility crews are working as hard and as fast as they can to safely restore power to the remaining 23,000 customers. I thank them all for their unceasing efforts - and I still don't have power at my property in Derry.

For the benefit of anyone who reads this, the PSNH telephone number is (800) 662-7764. WAIT for the message to end; push 1 for power outages and then 3 to reach a live operator.
- DJ, Litchfield

to Robert in Manchester -
I called PSNH through their 800 a few times and each time I could get through to a representative. I didn't get any useful information about restoration time but I was able to complain. PSNH won't get through this without being grilled by many, you can be sure of that.

Just curious... if NH Electric co-op and Unitil have all of their customers back up, will they be helping PSNH? Makes sense but if this isn't the case, that's ridiculous.
- Jay, Londonderry

I truly appreicate all that the utility workers are doing. I do not feel it is right to attack them BUT they are getting paid and when they accepted employment, they knew there could be days/weeks like this.
- Madalynne, Hampstead

Brandi , Who are you to judge peoples reactions to being without power for so long ? Like you said , you were one of the lucky ones that did'nt lose it . You go for a week without it then you might think a bit differently .
- Lew, Manchester

Hello World,

I am one of the few lucky ones with power & I am also a sibling to a phone company lineman who has done 12 hour days since Thanksgiving, without a day off.

I recognize the difficulty that all of the people without power face, but I find it outrageous that people attack the employees trying to help them.

I quote "Unitil CEO Bob Schoenberger said in one case a driver ran a line crew off the road and that in another, a man jumped on the back of a bucket truck and refused to get off."

What is with these psychotic people?

Would they please remember that these employees have families and lives & are outdoing themselves to meet the needs of those w/o power? My brother's 4 year old daughter falls asleep on the stairs waiting for her daddy to come home so that she can see him when he comes home in the middle of the night...

Everyone knows that you don't have power. Poles need to be replaced, lines need to be replaced but above & beyond that, people are sacrificing everything that they have to give so that you can have your lives back.. Give them a break! Have some appreciation...
- Brandi, Manchester, NH

PSNH Lies
While Mainers say PSNH trucks are in Maine doing work, PSNH sets up its phone to lie. You call and they say you can get someone live person from PSNH , but you cannot. You get an outdated canned message.

Yesterday as Maple, Beech, Bridge, Lowell all had 10 or more hours with no power staring at lunchtime, and little children shivered in their homes wondering, the PSNH auto message told us to go on our computers for information. No one from PSNH was even available to say if they had even STARTED working the problem, or had a clue what was wrong. They left thousands in Manchester iced out. Now they will pass their new charges onto us. They couldn't bother to update their auto phone or have ONE live operator. Instead they tell us how responsive and wonderful they are. They are liars.
- Robert Koenig, Manchester, NH