WOBURN - In response to two recent massive power outages in Woburn, NStar yesterday unveiled a comprehensive maintenance proposal designed to improve the electric provider's infrastructure within four months.

The proposal, however, met with skepticism from most of the standing-room-only crowd at City Hall that was made up mostly of business representatives from North and East Woburn.

"We're trying to inform you that we don't care about the reasons. It's your job to fix it because we can't," said Deanne Goodwin, of The MRI Center in East Woburn. "We're at the point of total frustration, and you don't seem to want to care."

At the urging of the businesses during the two-hour meeting on Thursday, NStar representatives vowed to augment the planned improvements with better communication of possible problems through the media and elected local officials, along with direct contact with the businesses themselves.

NStar also agreed to have another meeting in either March or April to update progress on the infrastructure plan, which is scheduled for a June 1 completion date.

"Please do not leave this room thinking we are not concerned, because we are," said Robert Masci, NStar operations manager for Woburn.

Unusual circumstances

The NStar team specifically addressed two major power outages, the first on Dec. 18, when either a door at the Dragon Court substation was left ajar or there was a leak in the roof, allowing snow that had fallen the previous night to penetrate and trip a circuit breaker, according to Dragon Court substation operations manager Robert Billet.

Power was restored in 51 minutes, according to Billet.

The second, more substantial outage occurred on Jan. 15, when two circuit breakers at Dragon Court both failed within 90 minutes, a happenstance Billet called "highly unusual."

"In my 18 years (at NStar), I've never seen that happen before," said Billet.

Power was lost to some 8,000 customers for several hours on a weekday afternoon, obviously greatly disrupting businesses and residents.

The exact cause has not been determined, but Billet said he suspects cold air (the temperature that day was about 10 degrees) above the substation "flashed cold water in the cable pit, then steam came up and flashed the circuit breaker."

The fix

In the short term, NStar has placed a plastic tarp above the circuit breaker system to keep out water from the Dragon Court station. When the weather gets warmer, a rubber roof will be installed as a more permanent solution.

NStar also outlined a comprehensive series of remedies that will include the examination and evaluation of every pole and power line in the city.

By tomorrow, NStar plans to test and complete all necessary maintenance on breakers and switch gear, "calibrate all station relays and telemetry equipment," seal all conduits and change all "cubicle filters" at Dragon Court.

By the end of March, weather permitting, NStar claims it will have installed automatic sump pumps, a waterproof membrane on all switchgear enclosures and air filters on switchgear doors.

By June 1, a third transformer will be added at Dragon Court, and annual preventative maintenance on all Woburn stations will be complete.

Improvements by April to NStar's distribution system will include circuit inspections of all overhead wires, and the company will repair any problems by June.

Inspections on underground systems will commence in May and repaired by June.

Also, NStar plans to upgrade the capacity of underground feeder cable, and re-institute a vigorous "tree trim program" for the entire city.

Jessa added there are plans to alter the distribution to the Washington Street area, 95 percent of which is serviced from Dragon Court.

NStar plans to change one of the switches from the Pond Street station in Winchester, "so one side of the (street) is serviced" from there.

According to Billet, "99 percent" of the work will be accomplished without power interruptions.

Masci acknowledged the checkered history and said the efforts in the next few months should solve most of the problems. He did not rule out future outages, however, since some circumstances are beyond NStar's control.

In addition to two large scale outtages this winter, there were several major outages as well this past summer.

"Nobody is perfect," said Masci. "There are things we're going to miss here and there ... and we cannot control squirrels or poles being struck" in car accidents.

The goal, according to NStar Director of Distribution Engineering Larry Gelbien, is to "see our customers go well over a year without any outages."

Criticism

Members of the audience wasted no time criticizing NStar for past performance, claiming frequent power outage issues existed long before December.

There was a particularly troubling instance last fall when the elderly residents in the Nichols Street housing complex were left without power for about eight hours.

History has left customers without confidence in NStar and sapped the company of its credibility, according to some.

"I'd like to see Woburn be brought up to the level of service of other communities," said North Woburn resident John Ciriello, who said he stopped counting power outages last year at seven.

"We just expect the same things that other cities and towns are getting," added Ciriello.

There was also the sentiment NStar should open the lines of communication during high-risk periods (heat waves, heavy storms) or when any outages due to "switching" can be expected as the infrastructure plan is implemented.

"I don't want to see an assumption that at 7 or 9 o'clock that businesses are closed," said Carol MacLeod, of Unicorn Park. "A lot of our businesses operate 24-7."

MacLeod and others in the audience were also annoyed the four NStar officials at the meeting were not aware there was a power outage for about 15 minutes this past Monday night.

"That's news to us," said Jessa.

"That's frightening in itself," replied MacLeod.

Mayor John Curran was one of a handful of politicians and city officials who spoke. The mayor called the outages "a great concern to the city."

"The life-blood of our revenue base is in that part of town," said Curran. "The most important thing was people were thinking about re-locating. We don't want that to happen."

The mayor added he has contacted the state Department of Public Utilities, the oversight authority for electricity providers, and intends to meet with that entity subsequent to yesterday's NStar meeting.

"I'm going to give (NStar) an opportunity to fix the problem, but if the situation doesn't improve ..." said Curran.

Another concern with power outages were traffic signals that didn't work and stuck elevators. One member of the audience called the traffic situation on Jan. 15 "a disaster," with Mass. Highway shutting off the ramp from Route 93 to Commerce Way until power was restored.

In December, Goodwin said she was "a footstep away" from getting in an elevator at her six-story building when the power went out.

"Every day, I get on that elevator and I hold my breath," said Goodwin.