Eversource set to be fined $1.5 million for refusing to investigate gas leaks that led to an explosion and a man's death

What sucks is that the utility will pass this cost to consumers, or have their insurance pay the fine and when the premiums go up, will pass that cost to consumers.

We need to hold executives personally accountable for business decision based negligence.
Especially if it costs lives and material damage. Right now the business cost / risk, benefit analysis clearly shows that doing nothing is more beneficial and profitable to the company than investigating anything.

I am not holding my breath that the state gov will do anything to hold executives personally responsible.

… Eversource is untrustworthy, unreliable and dangerous. I hope they lose.

Years ago, I worked in Burlington and would take a walk at lunchtime. Every time I walked on Washington St., there was a strong gas smell outside an apartment building. I called the gas leak line and reported it, but nothing was done, and the smell persisted.

Here's an MIT article on "lost leaks" that they say were not repaired, but were removed from the database of leaks.

It appears that many have simply been deleted from the record. That's 1,263 lost Eversource leaks (32%) and 2,938 lost National Grid leaks (17%).

They also say that

In 2015, a Harvard-led team estimated that the Boston region loses 15 billion cubic feet of natural gas worth $90 million dollars each year. This means 2.7 percent of the gas that is brought to the Boston region never makes it to customers, but instead escapes into the atmosphere (and soil). These loss rate estimates are more than twice as high as those made by government regulators and utilities.

It's disturbing.