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United Illuminating CEO Defends Employees, Holds to 95% Monday Timeline

James Torgerson, President and CEO of UIL Holdings, parent company of UI, held a press conference at UI headquarters in Orange, CT Thursday evening.

Response to 'Discriminating' Accusations

"None of that is occurring," Torgerson said. "We're sending our crews everywhere. For example, we have 70 resources in Bridgeport today, we have 64 in Milford, we 70 in Fairfield."

Comment on People 'Not Showing Respect' to Field Crews

Referring to incidents in which citizens of towns and cities have allegedly thrown things at field crew employees or threatened to throw things at them, Torgerson said, "We really can't tolerate that."

How Many Hours Are UI Crews Working?  

 "They're working 16 hour days," Torgerson said. "This is not just people in the field. We've got people working here who are sleeping overnight. Most of people in the field haven't even been home. They work 16-hour days, go somewhere to sleep and get back out there."

Milford Gas Leak 

Torgerson spoke of the gas leak in Milford Thursday morning. "Our gas people were there very quickly," Torgerson said. "It's under control. No individuals or nobody from the public was in any jeopardy. It's been taken care of and it's being taken care of right now."

Number of Workers Compared to Irene

Torgerson said that UI will have 1,170 workers on the ground in Connecticut as of tomorrow, an increase of the less than 700 they had working at the height of Irene.

He is planning to stick to the announcement that 95% of UI customers will have power back by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, November 5th.

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Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
Sen. Murphy at the roundtable discussion at the East Haven CT Food Bank.
Richard Poulton May 24, 2013 at 08:16 pm
How about seeing what it is like to live in a bug infester section 8 apartment for a week in theRead More inner city of NH. Then come back and talk to us. Jerk!!!
Rosie May 24, 2013 at 12:11 pm
What confusion? Unless you have lived under a rock the last century or are just a complete idiot, itRead More wasn't hard to understand that it is the holiday week. Big deal out of nothing...
Richard Poulton May 24, 2013 at 08:07 am
Thanks. Head-ons will do that.
Silence Dogood May 23, 2013 at 05:50 pm
I did and was told the road was shutdown to use alternate routes. That was it. I now see that thereRead More is a post explaining it. Head on collision by the army center.
Richard Poulton May 23, 2013 at 05:37 pm
Why not call the EHPD and ask that question.
Silence Dogood May 24, 2013 at 09:05 pm
How come the details of this tragedy are not reported? The road was shutdown for five hours! I heardRead More the contractor moved the lines in the road to avoid the secret military plumbing project and didn't post signs to alert drivers.
Richard Poulton May 24, 2013 at 09:32 am
3:30 in the afternoon on a road with lots of traffic and I will bet people did witness this accidentRead More but due to the "don't get involved" attitude these days, no one will call. Just so sad!
Richard Poulton May 24, 2013 at 09:32 am
3:30 in the afternoon on a road with lots of traffic and I will bet people did witness this accidentRead More but due to the "don't get involved" attitude these days, no one will call. Just so sad!