Boring machine that sliced underground cables to blame for extended JP blackout, Eversource says

Hyde Square-- I think when it began, it ran from Boylston to about Wyman or Mozart, and from Centre to either Danforth or Lamartine. By early evening, Boylston was back on, and everything west of Beecher & Chestnut seemed to be back on. The rest came up at 3:45AM, as Adam notes.

As luck would have it, both my home and the office where I worked that day were in the Dark Zone. To be honest, I don't think it would have been more than a big annoyance for most people had it not been for two aspects:

1. Residents who reported the outage were told to provide a number so they could be notified for updates. At about 3:00 in the afternoon, Eversource autocalled most of the numbers and left a message that the power was back on. For most of them, it was not.

2. I have run into this problem before, but reporting outages or emergencies to Eversource is a hot mess. I was at work, alone, for a client with a small home office when the power died. I called Eversource, and was asked for the account number (no reason I'd have that) or the phone number associated with the address (I gave the number I knew, but that was not the correct one) so they put me on hold for 25 minutes. I then got to have a who's-on-first conversation with a service rep who did not know that Jamaica Plain is part of Boston.

RANT:

About a year ago, I called Eversource to report that LIVE WIRES were down on the corner of Sheridan and Wyman, and the top of the pole was sparking. Now, I was walking home, and passed this-- I live pretty close but not on this block. Rep answered, and I told her live wires were on the road and gave her the intersection. After explaining that this was in Boston, she asked for a house number. The wires weren't exactly in front of a house, but I gave her a nearby number.

She then asked for my address. I said I lived two blocks away. She still wanted my address. Fine. I gave it.

THEN, she asked for my account number. As I stood in the increasing dark. On the street. Blocks away from my apartment. All of which she knew.

I said that I don't have our Eversource account number memorized. And furthermore, the account is in my partners name, not mine.

She asked for my partners name and phone number.

At which point I hung up, and called 9-1-1 to report that live wires were down. They sent a fire truck immediately.