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Sometimes I’ve got to step back and chuckle at my own profession and our skepticism. 

No sooner was it announced Witt Associates is conducting a free review of Connecticut Light & Power’s response to the October 29th snow storm, than we in the media (myself included) turned our attention from CL&P to asking, “What’s in it for Witt? C’mon. Nobody does anything pro bono!”

Channel 3 Eyewitness News ran this beautifully to the point headline: “Who is Witt Associates and why is it helping Connecticut?” The story reports Malloy’s comments from a Monday evening press conference where the topic arose: “Though Witt could be contracted out to help with disaster recovery, Gov. Dannel Malloy says just because the state is getting a free review, it doesn’t mean Witt will receive any special treatment when it is time to bid on jobs.”

True … in a way. It’s been my experience covering local and state governments that companies that study how to improve something are often strong contenders to implement those improvements on the grounds they are the most familiar with what needs to be done since it’s their plan.

So while Witt may technically not get any special treatment, just the act of being the company on the ground here in Connecticut analyzing the CL&P situation seems to give ‘em a leg up when the time comes to bid on any contracts.

Of course, there is also the chance Witt could, for various reasons, not bid on a project or fail to be hired. In that case they’d have provided a free road map to whichever company(ies) lands/land the job(s).

So maybe the only sure thing for Witt is some positive publicity for a good deed.

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Two historic storms. Numerous inquiries/investigations.

With several state entities probing how Connecticut - and particularly its utilities – handled Tropical Storm Irene in late August and the October 29th snow storm, things can get pretty confusing.

And it seems like more inquiries are announced every day. On Friday our congressional delegation asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to get involved. And earlier today the legislature’s Insurance Committee announced a hearing on how that industry handled the damage claims on November 15 at 1 p.m. in Hartford.

I asked Governor Dannel Malloy’s office for help explaining to readers who’s responsible for what, and they provided the following, amazingly detailed, better-than-I-had-hoped for list. Print it out and stick it on your hopefully-now-running fridge.

Storm Reviews

Governor Malloy’s Two Storm Panel

An eight member body appointed by Governor Malloy – originally established after Tropical Storm Irene –and now charged with an expanded scope to include the October snowstorm.  This panel is reviewing the preparedness, response and recovery efforts of the state and its partners – including the utilities and municipalities.  The panel will present the Governor a set of recommendations on how to improve response to future storms and natural disasters. 

Witt Inquiry

Governor Malloy has arranged for Witt Associates, a consulting firm led by former FEMA Director under President Bill Clinton, James Lee Witt, to conduct a thorough and timely review of both CL&P and UI and their handling of the recent winter storm.  Witt Associates will complete this review – which is being done pro bono – by December 1.

Witt Associates will focus on the performance of the power companies in the October snowstorm and will identify what went wrong and why.  The review will also identify short-term steps that can be put in place to protect electrical power service before another major winter storm occurs. 

Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP)

• Public Utilities Control Authority (PURA)

In keeping with its statutory obligation to ensure that the state’s public utilities meet their obligations to provide safe and adequate service for ratepayers, it is standard practice for PURA to undertake detailed reviews of the performance of utilities following major storm events.

PURA will conduct this type of review of the performance of Connecticut’s public utilities in preparing for and responding to the October snowstorm.  PURA had previously initiated a similar review regarding Tropical Storm Irene.

The PURA review will be focused on technical operations and the potential impact of these storms on rate making.   As the state’s utility regulatory body, PURA also has the authority to issue “orders” to require specific actions by the utility companies. 

The PURA reviews will also allow the agency to provide assistance and support to Governor Malloy’s Two Storm assessment team.

• Bureau of Energy and Technology Policy 

DEEP’s energy policy bureau will look at long-term policy considerations and issues raised by the two recent storms – with an eye toward recommendations that can help minimize major outages in the future.

The policy bureau will assess opportunities to enhance and strengthen the power grid.  These issues include: 

• Undergrounding power lines
• New standards for transmission lines, distribution lines and poles
• Distributed generation (decentralized power plants)
• Methods of ensuring continuity of power at key locations such as town centers with commercial areas

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While lawmakers and the general public are piling on Connecticut Light & Power’s response to last week’s freak October snow storm (even Governor Dannel Malloy has publicly distanced himself from CL&P COO Jeff Butler), Joe McGee really doesn’t have that luxury.

McGee, of the Stamford-based Business Council of Fairfield County, was named co-chairman of a special panel Malloy convened in September to analyze the response to Tropical Storm Irene.

The State Team Organized for the Review of Management of Irene – S.T.O.R.M. – has met twice, and has been asked to also look at the October 29 snows that left so many CL&P customers in the dark for over a week.

“In fairness to the utility, this was an extraordinary storm,” McGee told me a little while ago while we were talking about other storm-related issues. “The rush to judgment is everyone wants Jeff Butler’s head on a platter delivered to the governor. We really need to understand the scale of the storm, how it compared to other places like Massachusetts, and the response. It’s not clear what the failure point was. They may have performed extraordinarily given the circumstances. That’s where calmer heads need to prevail here.”

UPDATE: Malloy doesn’t need anyone to serve him Butler’s head – he’s doing a pretty good job cooking it up himself. At a Monday evening press conference the governor said CL&P failed to understand the gravity of the situation and could be guilty of malfeasance.

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After Tropical Storm Irene clobbered the state in late August, Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, quietly wrote the co-chairs of the legislature’s Energy & Technology Committee asking they raise a bill “requiring electric utilities to make public a comprehensive strategy regarding contracting with repair crews from out of state to supplement their Connecticut crews.”

“We know there were (out-of-state) trucks but they were very, very hard to find. I know a lot that came from western Pennsylvania, Ohio, took a right hand turn (to) New Jersey, a left onto the Massachusetts’ Turnpike, and perhaps north as well,” Frantz told me Friday after sending me a copy of his letter. “We were the last people to get help from the outside in earnest. It was shocking to me crews were showing up from Washington state, Oregon and British Columbia … six days after the storm had exited the area.”

Sound familiar? As our Hearst newspaper chain reported this weekend, the freak October 29th snowstorm revealed to many just how unreliable the utilities’ – particulary Connecticut Light & Power’s – systems for getting aid from outside linemen can be.

It also revealed how little state officials understand of the process.

Now everyone from U.S. Senators to the General Assembly to Gov. Dannel Malloy to the Attorney General to Energy/Environment Commissioner Daniel Esty are promising to ensure during future severe weather that Connecticut gets its fair share of outside resources from neighboring utilities and other regions of the country.

“The impression I had was there was a very well-structured network in place such that when a state in trouble called, there’s a whole system of triggers,” Esty told us. “What we’re finding out is that may not be quite the way it works.”

But it’s fair to point out Frantz, a member of a party that traditionally shies away from forcing businesses to reveal operating details, was asking for this a few months back.

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Our story from this weekend.

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Telvent.

That’s the company, according to Connecticut Light & Power spokesman Mitch Gross, the utility pays for weather forecasts, although it also monitors a variety of free national and local sources.

CL&P and some of Connecticut’s weather professionals have been at odds this week over the accuracy of the details of last weekend’s snow storm and its severity. But it has been unclear exactly whose data the utility was relying on.

To sample the back and forth between utility execs and meteorologists, see our Hearst report, Hartford Courant columnist Rick Green’s coverage, and weatherman Geoff Fox’s blog.

I was surprised the snow started falling as early as it did Saturday, but I’m not a CL&P executive and can be excused for being caught off guard.

As of last year CL&P got good marks for its weather monitoring. In 2010 an independent company, at the request of state officials, analyzed CL&P’s forecasting sources as part of an overall review of the company’s and United Illuminating’s response to a severe March wind/rain storm that left portions of Connecticut in the dark for days.

The report said CL&P at the time relied upon paid forecasting from Weather Service International, which has since been replaced by Telvent.

The report blamed the weather professionals, not CL&P: “CL&P suffered from continuing inaccuracies in official weather service forecasts as well as from other public weather services during this storm.”

The report concluded, “Since this particular event was exacerbated by unforeseen severe weather conditions, we examined and found CL&P’s procedures for obtaining weather forecast information properly dependent on a variety of sources and adequate.”

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As is to be expected when angry constituents are left for days without power, various elected officials are calling for legislation they hope will avoid future crises.

It started yesterday with House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, who, along with state Rep. Vicki Nardello, D-Prospect, announced a plan to establish storm response benchmarks and fine utilities should they fail to meet them.

Today other lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, issued their own ideas, listed below in the order they arrived in my email:

11:46 a.m. Rep. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown announced his plan to auction generators to one gas station per municipality to ensure every city and town has at least one set of working fuel pumps during widespread power losses.

12:02 p.m. Rep. Zeke Zalaski, D-Southington revealed a proposal to require installation of generators at gas stations and senior housing units.

2:31 p.m. Sen. Andrew Roraback, R-Goshen called for legislation requiring cell phone towers be equipped with generators to stay operable during power outages.

3:19 p.m. Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton said it is time to: Implement plans for more rigorous tree management to keep them from falling on wires; improve state regulation of utility emergency management plans with an emphasis on delegating greater authority to company representatives in individual towns to control work crews; enhance communication between utilities and town officials to better manage residents’ expectations.

5:09 p.m. Rep. David Baram, D-Bloomfield announced he wants to require utilities to reimburse customers for losses due to a lack of power.

It will be interesting to see if any of these proposals actually make it through the legislative process during the coming winter’s 2012 session.

As our Hearst newspapers reported today, the General Assembly tried to get tough with utilities over storm response in 2007/2008. That worked out well.

“In two weeks when this is over and everybody’s got lights, it’s going to be business as usual until the next storm,” a skeptical Frank Cirillo, business manager for the Waterbury-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 420, said in our story.