Eversource, New England's largest energy company
Eversource is the largest energy delivery company in New England, providing electricity, natural gas and (until recently) water service to customers across Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire. The territory is highly forested and exposed to severe weather, which makes vegetation management and storm hardening the central reliability levers.
- The size of the Eversource network and the three states it covers
- Why power outages happen on the Eversource grid
- The $24.2 billion 5-year capital plan and recent regulatory wins
- How automation, AMI and underground substations are reshaping reliability
A 13,000-square-mile grid across Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire
Eversource operates an electric distribution and transmission system across more than 13,000 square miles in three New England states. Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) is the local brand in Connecticut, and Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) is the local brand in New Hampshire.
- More than 4 million combined electric, gas and water customers in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
- About 13,000 square miles of service territory across three New England states.
- Approximately 10,000 employees across the company.
- Top-decile reliability versus industry comparators in 2024, with system average interruption duration (SAIDI) outperforming most large U.S. utilities.
Eversource (NYSE: ES) is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut and is regulated separately in each of its three states.
Nor'easters and ice storms: why Eversource customers lose power
New England weather, dense forests and aging infrastructure are the three biggest drivers of outages on the Eversource grid. The company explicitly cites three of its top-10 most impactful storms in New Hampshire occurring between December 2022 and March 2023.
Severe weather and nor'easters
Heavy snow, ice storms, nor'easters and high-wind events drive most large-scale outages. Coastal substations are also exposed to flooding and rising sea levels, which is why floodwalls and substation hardening are a growing share of investment.
Trees and vegetation
New Hampshire is one of the most heavily forested states in the country, and trees are the primary cause of power outages there. Eversource invested about $40 million into vegetation management in New Hampshire in 2024, up from $27 million in 2018.
Aging poles and equipment
Older poles, wires and substation equipment fail more often. Eversource installed nearly 4,400 new utility poles and more than 200 miles of overhead wire in Connecticut in 2025 alone, all on top of the standard maintenance cycle.
Coastal flooding
With many substations near the water in Massachusetts and Connecticut, climate resilience projects, including floodwalls and underground substations, target the assets most exposed to severe weather and rising seas.
The $24.2 billion New England capital plan
Eversource is running a $24.2 billion 5-year capital plan focused on grid modernization, climate resilience and electrification, with state regulators in all three states aligned to support cost recovery for these investments.
Eversource grid investment plan
$24.2 billion 5-year capital plan for grid modernization, electrification and resilience.
Connecticut: $980 million in storm cost securitization unlocked under Senate Bill 4 (2025), with 85% of $2 billion in deferred storm costs expected to be recovered.
New Hampshire: $100 million permanent rate increase plus performance-based rate mechanism with inflation adjustments.
AMI 2.0 advanced metering rollout under way in Massachusetts.
Connecticut reliability improved by about 15% since 2017.
42% of Connecticut customer outages restored within 5 minutes in 2025 thanks to automated switching devices.
Annual reliability scorecards are now sent to all 149 towns and cities across Eversource's Connecticut footprint, plus the Massachusetts and New Hampshire municipalities, providing local accountability data.
AMI 2.0 smart meters and storm hardening
Automated switching and self-healing
Automated switching devices identify the location of an outage in real time, isolate the affected area and reroute power to other customers. This is the main reason almost half of Connecticut customer outages were restored within five minutes in 2025.
AMI 2.0 advanced metering
Massachusetts is rolling out AMI 2.0, a next-generation advanced metering platform, with new customer billing and information systems already in place. Smart meters detect outages at the address level and confirm restoration without customer phone calls.
Underground substations and floodwalls
On the most exposed coastal sites, Eversource builds underground substations and installs floodwalls. These projects target the assets most likely to be hit by severe weather and rising sea levels.
Dynamic line ratings and grid-enhancing technologies
In partnership with the University of Connecticut, Eversource is deploying solar-powered dynamic line rating sensors on a 345 kV transmission line in Massachusetts that connects the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm. The project was selected for a federal Department of Energy grant on grid-enhancing technologies (GETs).
Eversource outage map and storm preparation tools
Eversource outage map
Eversource publishes a public outage map updated in near real-time, with separate views for Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Customers can search by town or zip code, see the size of an outage and follow estimated restoration times.
Mobile app and alerts
The Eversource mobile app gives access to the outage map, lets customers report a power outage and pushes proactive SMS, email and app notifications when service is interrupted.
EV charging programs
Eversource runs make-ready EV charging programs in Connecticut and Massachusetts, including utility-scale charging infrastructure rebates and managed charging incentives that reward off-peak charging.
National Grid and New England's ISPs
For a wider view of how the U.S. electric grid works and why outages happen, see the U.S. power outage page. Another major utility serving Massachusetts and Rhode Island is National Grid. For internet outages across the same New England footprint, the most common providers are Xfinity, Verizon and Optimum.