Quote:
Originally Posted by Caymus
Back in Massachusetts we were without power for 13 days after a severe early season Ice storm. Out of area crews came but were restricted in their activities. Apparently overtime pay for the local union was more "important" than restoring power.
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Since I work at one of the power utilities, and have been on storm duty, and seen first hand how they work, I would say that they are restricted due to what the company can do and what the contractors can do. My street was without power for an extra day because the contractors couldn't perform the fix, due to my company's internal paperwork issue. So the company had to do it. However, many contractors work with the company with the contractors' management in the storm room with us to manage who does the work. These contractors have agreements and requested ahead of time for coordination. . . just like Mexico beach, the linemen aren't going everywhere because they can't get everywhere due to roads being blocked and no poles left to hand wires on. .
All depends upon where you are in MA, who your distribution company is, and how much they can afford. All storm related work, in the millions, are paid for out of pocket, and then a reimbursement is requested from future rate payments from the customers. If you don't have the cash to pay the contractors, they aren't going to get much work. Plus, there are state reciprocity agreements, etc. so just showing up isn't a guarantee of employment, and life for most not in the path is most likely back to normal electrical operations at the moment.