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Gov. Malloy Says CL&P Won't Meet Self-Imposed Restoration Deadline

HARTFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Gov. Dan Malloy says Connecticut Light & Power will not meet its goal of restoring power to 99 percent of customers by midnight Sunday.

More than 66,000 customers were still without power in Connecticut. Malloy says updated timetables show some areas won't have power restored until Wednesday.

Latest Outage Numbers: CL&P

"The closer we got to CL&P's self-identified goal of 99 percent restoration in each city and town by midnight tonight, the more skeptical I became of their ability to meet that goal," said Malloy said in a statement released Sunday. "It's now clear they are not going to meet their goal."

The utility said while it expected to have everyone back on-line Sunday, work has been more extensive and difficult than first expected.

Malloy released the new restoration timetable "because towns and cities need to make preparations based on the reality of the situation."

To see the list of restoration projections by town, click here.

"This should not have happened and it is my job to find out why it did and most important, my job is to make sure it does not happen again," Malloy said.

Meanwhile, the utility's chief operating officer, Jeffrey Butler, said at a press conference Saturday that customers who pay their October bills late won't be charged a fee. He also said the utility must do a better job communicating about changing conditions.

In Enfield, a pole was leaning on power lines and blocking the exit to the fire station for over a week before it was fixed.

"We're driving under poles with transformers on them for a week now and the best we've been able to get done here is that they've blocked off the road so it doesn't fall on cars going by us," said Enfield resident Bob Herron.

Over 400 National Guard soldiers have joined the effort and more than 1,700 crews have been working to have power restored.

With the new restoration times, some school districts say they may need to cancel classes again on Monday.

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(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and
Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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