| Lights out in Dot, to some groaning
By Patrick Gerard Healy
Globe Correspondent Tim Malloy, who works a 9-to-5 job, sometimes wakes up for work at midnight - at least that's what his alarm clock says. Malloy says overnight power outages have caused him to miss many hours of his job as a state clerk because he has woken up late to find his clock blinking ''12:00.'' A Savin Hill resident, Malloy is not the only one in the dark. Since January, he and his neighbors have experienced frequent, sometimes unexpected, electrical service interruptions as NStar employees work on the lines as part of a major upgrade to the area. Although the power is never out long enough for refrigerated food to go bad, residents say their sleep has sometimes suffered. ''It's caused me intense paranoia,'' says Savin Hill resident Rachel Esser, who works as a receiver at Urban Outfitters. ''I'll wake up with a start in the middle of the night because the power has gone out so many times.'' NStar has pledged to send out notices at least a week in advance of each overnight outage, alerting its customers of the times they can expect the power not to work, but residents allege that the company's timing is frequently off. ''[One] week it was supposed to happen Tuesday or Wednesday, and power never went out,'' says Malloy, ''And then on the other hand, there have been at least four times where it has gone out without notice.'' In letters to its customers, NStar says the company will make every effort to follow its schedule, but it ''may be necessary to modify or postpone this maintenance for unforeseen reasons.'' NStar spokeswoman Christina McKenna says that the company cannot always predict the exact time. ''In emergency situations, we take whatever steps necessary to restore the system,'' she says. Also, she notes, the seemingly unpredictable nature of the repairs may not always be the fault of NStar. People who live in apartment buildings, for example, might not always see the notices. But Savin Hill resident Josh Wallis says having consistent electricity shouldn't require so much customer participation. ''It's more of a nuisance than anything else,'' he says. ''When the alarm clock goes out it's just chaos in the morning.'' Wallis, who tends bar in Cambridge, often doesn't get home until 1 or 2 in the morning, and says it's frustrating to come home to no power at all. He also says he has noticed the power going out more frequently of late. McKenna says the warmer months may see an increase in power outages, scheduled or otherwise, because of the stress that air conditioners put on the electrical system, but she urges patience by customers. ''For the most part, customers are very understanding because they realize these scheduled repairs and upgrades will help keep the electrical system running smoothly through the rest of the summer,'' she says. Wallis says he doubts this sort of occurrence would happen in wealthier areas. ''Sometimes I think it has to do with the demographic of my neighborhood,'' he says. ''I mean, it's not Beacon Hill.'' Not so, according to NStar. ''There are many areas we're working on all the time like Dorchester, Brookline, and Jamaica Plain,'' McKenna says. ''It's an old city. ''We're in a constant state of improvement, so certainly we're eager to
do all we can to give reliable service, and from time to time, we're
working more intensely on one area than another.''
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