Dozens of Connecticut homeowners may be preparing to file claims with Eversource after a power surge affected 41 homes Tuesday night.
The East Hampton fire chief said Eversource inspected the affected homes for damage. Homeowners must now replace damaged property and submit claims to the electric company, which said its review could take 30 days. More complex claims may take longer.
The chief also said some items that appeared to survive the surge could still fail in the coming days.
Lauri Sirois said she noticed something was wrong when the lights inside her Terp Road home began changing.
“All of a sudden, I noticed the kitchen lights were getting brighter… then we heard a loud pop noise, and then smelled smoke. So, immediately called 911, got out of the house, got the pets out of the house, and just waited,” Sirois explained.
Sirois was among the residents who remained awake throughout the night as Eversource workers went from home to home inspecting electrical outlets and looking for damage.
“They unplugged everything, took light bulbs out, tried each outlet, find out if anything wasn’t working,” Sirois said.
Four of Sirois’ surge protectors were damaged, along with her dryer. A technician later inspected the dryer and confirmed it was a total loss.
“He just said that there was no heat, and the motor wasn’t even humming,” Sirois said.
Sirois spent nearly $800 to replace the dryer. She said some of her neighbors sustained significantly more damage.
“We were fortunate we had the extra cash to do that. But that’s not going to be the case for everybody. And then there’s interest if they take more than 30 days.”
How Eversource power surge claims are calculated
Eversource does not reimburse customers based on the cost of buying new replacement items.
Claims are based on the damaged property’s actual cash value, meaning the age of an appliance or other item is factored into the amount a homeowner could receive. Eversource said each outcome is determined on a case-by-case basis.
Eversource says the cause of the power surge is still under investigation.
“Our priority is always the safety of our customers, and our crews worked nonstop to make repairs and safely restore power following Tuesday’s outage in East Hampton, while staying in close communication with the impacted customers and town leaders.”
Sarah Paduano, Eversource Spokesperson
