Last winter in New York state, at least 37 people were killed by a storm. “There are people in homes who are at below freezing temperatures,” an official told CNN. Multiday power outages were a major cause of the deaths.
Thousands of residents in Windham County, Vermont, were severely affected by Green Mountain Power’s multiday outage in March 2023. People who could afford generators were mostly OK. Many of the rest of us had no heat, no way to flush the toilet, etc. Roads were blocked by power lines. Town road crews couldn’t cut trees to reopen roads for days because of live power lines among the branches. Ambulances and fire trucks would have been delayed.
Green Mountain Power is owned by a fossil fuel corporation in Canada. Parts of Grafton, Vermont, and many rural areas in Europe have buried power lines. In those places, falling trees are not a problem. GMP’s owner would rather spend the money on raises for its multimillionaire CEO. If Vermont’s state regulators — appointed by our governor — were doing their jobs, they would force this monopoly to bury power lines, or to provide affordable batteries and/or generators (including installation and maintenance) to people who can’t afford them at market rates.
My wife and I have lived on a paved road in Dummerston, 3 miles from exit 3 in Brattleboro, since 2002. During that time, there have been dozens of extended power outages. GMP has promised repeatedly to fix the problem. I no longer trust GMP.
Anyone concerned about power outages should contact state regulators. If that doesn’t help, contact James McNerney at the Burlington office of U.S. Sen. Peter Welch.
Eesha Williams
Dummerston
