The Ratings Are In: Nstar's Storm Response Less Than Impressive in Weston

Well, it seems safe to say Weston Patch readers weren't terribly impressed with Nstar's response to Hurricane Sandy, but they also willingly acknowledge that Weston's lengthy power outages paled in comparison to the devastation in New York and New Jersey.

Last week, we asked you to rate Nstar's response to Hurricane Sandy on a scale of 1-10. We specifically asked you to think about this year's response in comparison to the response to major power outage events in 2011 (remember Irene and Snowtober?)

According to the comments we received, the average rating came to about 3. Technically, we averaged the ratings we received and got a 3.66, but one of the ratings was "zero minus" so we rounded down instead of up.

Commenter Andie was one person who expressed gratefulness that Weston fared better than New York or New Jersey, but in terms of a raiting, said Nstar earned a "zero minus." Andie explained the assessment like this:

We were without power for three days, which is just about the same length of time we were without power during 2011's storm. Surrounding communities had only brief outages and the only thing in our favor was that it wasn't cold. Is it because trees near power lines aren't pruned, or that none of the dead trees are removed? Of course I am I extremely thankful that we were not hit the way NY and NJ were but I just don't get it.

Alex, another commenter, also said that the power was out this year for roughly the same amount of time as last year, but added that communication was the biggest concern.

My house on Old Rd was without power for three days, roughly the same as last year (or shorter). From my perspective, there wasn't enough information going through the correct channels. NStar needed to get a better idea of when it would be able to get to Weston, and then pass that on to the Weston Police.

Speaking of Weston police, in an earlier conversation with Weston Patch, Weston Lt. John Lyons said communication between Nstar and town officials was lacking.

“We started notifying Nstar in the afternoon Monday, and we did not see an Nstar truck until Tuesday after 11 a.m.,” Lyons said. "We had an absolutely horrible experience with Nstar response. All they kept saying is the trucks were in town or on the way and should be working but couldn’t tell us where."

Commenter Rachel Piper said her home was without power for four days, but she still gave Nstar a rating of 8, mostly because of the sheer magnitude of the power problem following Sandy.

I just find it hard to judge in a time like that when so many people are without power and the job at hand is gigantic. We were without power for 4 days, ate a lot of sandwiches and built a lot of fires. I, personally was appreciative of the men on Conant Road that Thursday night, out late, away from their families for unending hours, restoring energy for my family and neighbors. 8

Weston was the slowest Massachusetts community to recover power following Sandy, with 38 percent still in the dark come Wednesday morning after the storm struck on Monday. According to Nstar, it had corrected all storm-related power outages in the state by Friday morning.

Do you agree with your neighbors' assessment of Nstar's Sandy response? Would you offer a different rating? Tell us in the comments.