CL&P says 99 percent of customers will be restored by Monday

Connecticut Light & Power has adjusted its restoration estimate, saying that 99-percent of its customers across the state should have their electricity restored by the end of Monday and pretty much everyone by Wednesday, chief operating officer Jeff Butler said in a telephone press conference early Friday.

As of 8 a.m., the number of statewide outages was at 148,000 CL&P customers, a fraction of the peak 672,000 customers who were without power earlier this week.

Danbury still has 4,467 people out or 12 percent of the city's electricity users, as of 12:45 p.m. Friday. Representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Administration are expected in town Tuesday, and Danbury is hoping the federal Small Business Administration will help businesses that were hurt in the tropical storm, said Civil Preparedness Director Paul Estefan.

With nearly 1,600 crews expected to be working Friday – nearly double the number of personnel on the ground Tuesday – the company is on track to meet its initial goal, which was to have fewer than 100,000 statewide outages by Saturday.

Butler announced that CL&P expects to have fewer than 12,400 homes and businesses without power – or about 1-percent of its statewide customer base – by the end of Monday, with full restoration still targeted for end of Wednesday.

“We will continue a 24-hour-a-day restoration as we move forward with this three-day weekend,” Butler said. “We are maintain a workforce that we have this weekend.”

The damage to the state was extensive with 10,000 “trouble spots” identified and more than 2,000 roads closed immediately following the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, Butler said.