Unitil Works To Reclaim Its Public Image | Strained utility calls upon former National Grid exec for help
After testifying at a Department of Public Utilities hearing a few weeks ago, in which utility company Unitil defended its emergency response system following December’s ice storm, Tom Alonzo, chair of Lunenburg’s board of selectman, came home to discover not much had changed.
“After my testimony, I came home to a two-hour power outage, which, from what I understand, was caused by a down branch,” he said.
Despite that evidence, the New Hampshire-based utility company continues to vow that it will improve its performance.
Four months-removed from the ice storm that hit Central Massachusetts and left many communities without power for more than a week, Unitil hired a new emergency management director to right the ship.
Richard Francazio, the former vice president and director of emergency planning for National Grid, who as of last month was only two weeks into an early retirement, accepted Unitil’s offer to manage its emergency response division.
“I like a challenge,” Francazio said. “I had done this previously with National Grid, so I knew what I was walking into. Clearly, there was a lot of work to do, but I knew I could bring something more to the table.”
Power Planning
For Alonzo, Unitil’s appointment of Francazio does little to fix the problem.
“It’s a good move that should’ve been done about 30 years ago, but the hiring of a person from their competitor is certainly not proof in the pudding at this point,” Alonzo said.
“Because you name an emergency response director doesn’t mean that your emergency response management is any better; it just means you have a director. It’s trial by fire, and only then can you tell how good it is.”
Unitil came under heavy fire during the ice storm that spanned Dec. 11 through 12. The small utility company only serves a handful of Central Massachusetts towns — Lunenburg, Fitchburg, Ashby and Townsend — but some residents in those towns spent weeks without power, while nearby customers of National Grid, a much larger utility, had power within days.
In response to the bad PR, the company has increased its incoming calls capacity by 40 percent and expanded its ability to handle high call volumes during emergencies.
Unitil also plans to work with more companies in the future, which will provide additional crews during major power outages. Similarly, the company plans to increase the availability of damage assessment personnel, which will provide customers with more accurate estimates of when they will have their power restored.
The greatest challenge, though, will be convincing customers and communities that they can depend on the company during the next emergency situation.
“We fully recognize that we’re going to have to earn their trust again during this process,” Francazio said. “The proof will be in the pudding.”
Francazio is revising the company’s emergency response plan. He worked on similar plans at National Grid, but says it’s unfair to compare the two utility companies because National Grid’s expansive service area – from coastal communities in Long Island to the snow belt in upstate New York – constantly required it to respond to emergency situations. Unitil, by comparison, had gone a decade without facing a devastating event like December’s ice storm. Even then, the company’s response was uninspiring.
“Twice in twenty years they have failed to address an emergency situation,” Alonzo said.
What the company is doing now is taking lessons from southern states, which have had to respond to major hurricanes over the past few years.
With those lessons in mind, Unitil is meeting regularly with emergency teams in each of the communities that it serves to better gauge how communication can improve.
The company also wants to have all of the kinks worked out of its emergency response plan as early as the beginning of next month.
“We want to be ready before the hurricane season,” Francazio said. “But there’s a lot of work that has to be done between now and then. We’re making great progress. If something were to happen tomorrow, we’d be in a much better place than we were a month ago.”
In its most recent quarter (ending March 31, 2009), Unitil reported $135.6 million in total revenue, with $62.1 million generated from electric work and $72.4 million coming from its natural gas services.
It reported $121.7 million in operating expenses, resulting in $13.9 million in total income.
The utility is based in Hampton, N.H. It serves approximately 170,000 customers in three states through several affiliates.
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