Vermont Electric Power Company has repaired and restored power to transmission lines in the Northeast Kingdom that were damaged last week.
VELCO operates the state’s electric transmission grid. Spokesman Kerrick Johnson said about 167 out of 405 insulators on a line in Concord were damaged, apparently by gunshots, and had to be replaced over the weekend.
"We had a crew of about 24 VELCO workers that were making these repairs and it’s pretty challenging work, given the topography there and the use of two cranes to make the repairs necessary," Johnson said.
Johnson said the repairs cost VELCO about $250,000, and because alternate, more expensive power sources needed to be tapped over the weekend, the total cost to New England ratepayers will top a million dollars.
But any increases will be spread out over a lot of electric bills, Johnson added, and may not be obvious to consumers.
Vermont State Police are investigating.