Milford experiencing increased power outages

MILFORD – August has brought a lot of stormy weather, which means higher chances of a power outage.

In recent weeks, Milford has experienced several major power outages, bringing residents some worry.

Anthony Chipola is the electric director for the city of Milford. He has worked closely with his team to find the causes of the outages.

“A lot of it was the storms,” said Mr. Chipola. “We did have quite a number of storms roll through, like lightning storms, wind storms and straight-line winds a few weeks back.

“We faired pretty well during that with a share of outages.”

Some of the issues were resolved just by checking the power lines during storms.

“When it storms and the winds blow, we get a lot of tree branches down on the lines, lightning strikes on equipment and stuff like that,” said Mr. Chipola.

However, some of the issues, especially in the southwest portion of the city, did not come from storms.

“We have had some issues out there since probably the spring,” said Mr. Chipola. “So we have been tracking an uptick in outages in that area. We have been out there since the spring trying to investigate.”

After a few operations to find the problems, the crews believe they found the cause.

“We noticed that there was a lot of overgrowth in terms on vegetation in the area,” said Mr. Chipola. “So we went through some really comprehensive tree-clearing efforts.”

Even after clearing the trees, they found something else that could have led to even more outages.

“We did find a piece of equipment,” said Mr. Chipola. “It was an older-style insulator that we suspect made have been contributing to the outages as well.”

Although the outages were not good for the residents, officials are grateful they helped them find some answers.

“We were able to find a direct cause,” said Mr. Chipola.

The crews have now created plans to prevent overgrowth of trees across the city.

“We are actively working to improve our reliability, not just in that southwest portion of town but across the city,” said Mr. Chipola. “We are getting on a more proactive treeclearing regime.

“My deepest apologies go out to (the residents). But we are confident that the issues are addressed.

“We do take this matter to heart and we are very active in trying address it and we will continue to do that.”