More Than 5,000 New Canaan Customers Lose Power After Eversource Substation Issue

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More than 5,000 in New Canaan lost power Wednesday around midday after a problem at one of Eversource utility’s substations caused a town-wide blackout, officials say.

In a 1 p.m. update, Emergency Management Director Russ Kimes said Eversource reported that problems at the utility company’s substation caused the outage, affecting 5,302 customers—about 61% of households in town.

“Eversource reports that crews are already on site working to fix the issue,” Kimes said. “They have not provided an estimated time for restoration.”

Those affected included businesses (and traffic lights) downtown, with chefs and shopkeepers wandering into Elm Street to discuss the problem, and diners stranded at tables outside on an otherwise picture-perfect summer day. (Walter Stewart’s Market was able to stay open.)

Many businesses began reporting restoration about five hours after the outage, and by 7 p.m. Wednesday just seven New Canaan homes remained without power.

Town officials said they’d been in communication with senior leadership at Eversource and Connecticut’s state elected officials in an effort to restore power as quickly as possible.

The unexpected blackout dovetailed with Eversource’s restoration efforts following widespread outages in the wake of the July 4 celebration at Waveny, when downed limbs and blown transformers left three-quarters of the town in the dark.

Speaking during Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, First Selectman Dionna Carlson said New Canaan was among the hardest-hit communities in the state after Sunday’s storm, with more than 75% of the town losing power at its peak.

“It has been a slog,” Carlson said. “There’s been a lot of trees down which have had to be removed.”

Carlson said restoration efforts were complicated by additional storm damage and intermittent setbacks, including equipment failures that caused some customers who had regained power to lose it again.

“It has been difficult,” she said. “It’s been a very frustrating restoration.”

Carlson also voiced frustration with Eversource’s communication during the recovery effort, saying she contacted both the utility and the governor’s office seeking additional assistance and clearer updates for residents.

According to information Carlson received from Eversource during the meeting, crews intentionally de-energized a line from a substation Wednesday morning so a hazardous tree on Park Street could be removed safely. The planned outage temporarily affected 726 customers and was expected to take about two hours to complete.

She warned residents that outage totals could fluctuate throughout the day as crews temporarily shut off power to safely complete repairs before restoring additional customers.

Carlson said 16 Eversource crews were working in New Canaan Wednesday and were expected to restore power to more than 1,300 customers before moving on to nearly 500 additional outages. As of 1 p.m., Eversource had not provided a revised estimate for when all service would be restored.

Town officials urged residents to remain safe while crews continue repairs.