Manchester condo owners ask Eversource to fix power problem

MANCHESTER, Conn. – Residents at the Lawton Gardens Condominiums in Manchester are frustrated after nearly a month of power problems.

“It was just a huge problem, one problem after another,” said resident Bob Soucy.

A large and sometimes inconsistent generator is the only thing providing power to one of the two condo buildings after the complex lost power on Nov. 29.

“We had five power outages over the weekend,” Soucy explained. “I was outside and the circuit breaker blew, causing sparks and noise, leaving both buildings without power. Eversource came and reset the circuit breaker every time and it just blew again.”

Neighbors say the power began flickering on November 21st. Several people told FOX61 they were without power for up to five days.

“The power doesn’t come in and then my fridge comes in, it’s like a freezer and my fridge both are when I open it and then I realize, oh, it’s like I smell it,” another resident said , Mohsin Kadawala.

He says all his food spoiled and he lost hundreds of dollars after his power went out for a week.

Kadawala and his neighbors in Lawton Gardens say Eversource workers came to the complex several times in late November to reset circuit breakers. It is said that only one of the buildings was successfully repaired.

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The day after Thanksgiving, the front building finally lost power.

Lawton Gardens management paid out of pocket to rent a generator for the building. Those who live here say the generator costs $600 a day, not including diesel fuel.

“Each condo will be assessed at $3,000 just to cover the cost of that,” Soucy said.

The generator has been running for almost a month now to maintain power to the building as Eversource still has not fixed the issue.

That’s why condo owners turned to Rep. Geoff Luxenberg (D-Manchester) for help.

“We contacted Eversource and I was really disappointed because Eversource just had a list of endless excuses and I don’t think any of them passed the smell test,” Luxenberg said.

In an email to FOX61, an Eversource spokesperson wrote, “The issue at the Lawton Gardens complex is related to an issue with customer-owned equipment.” As soon as we became aware of the situation, we began working with the customer to resolve it to find. There was a slight delay last week due to the weather, but we have expedited the necessary work and expect the project to be completed by Thursday.”

However, Luxenberg and those who live here say this should have been fixed long before the holidays.

“They should take remedial action by ensuring that they compensate people for lost food and other damages caused by Eversource’s negligence for almost a month,” Luxenberg said. “It just has to stop.”

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Emma Wulfhorst is a political reporter for FOX61 News. She can be reached at [email protected]. Keep following her Facebook, X And Instagram.

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