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    Thousands were in the dark for days after storms like Hurricane Sandy and the October Nor’Easter in 2011.

    The power companies took a lot of flak for them and now years later those companies have gotten another bad review

    In the latest J-D Power and Associates rankings both Connecticut Light and Power (C&LP) and United Illuminating (UI) scored near the bottom in terms of customer satisfaction. But most customers NBC Connecticut spoke with have different views

    “There was like a tree at least that bigger that came down,” said Barry Flynn who is referring to a tree that is no longer there because it was wiped away by Sandy. “When it came down, it took down the wires and the pole.”

    Yet Flynn says he was pleased with UI’s performance after the storm tore through Cora Street in Morris Cove–one he’s called home for the last 30 years.

    “There was so much going on and then we lost power for 4, 5, 6 days or something,” Flynn added. “It was quite reasonable.”

    Yet Flynn is in the minority according to JD Power & Associates who rank CL&P and UI near the bottom for residential customer satisfaction in their latest survey

    “I’ve never had any issues with UI,” said Dave Julian of Milford. “Actually I’ve found them to be a bit cheaper. We moved here from Southington.”

    Julian is a former CL&P customer, which JD Power ranks 13 out of 17 large utilities in the east region. Despite the news the power company says that’s a 30 point improvement over last year.

    “We had the hurricane, we had the snowstorm, we had all kinds of things out here,” said Ed Dinse of Guilford.

    UI ranked 13 out of 15 mid-sized utilities in the east region. A company spokesperson says the state has struggled with things the survey looked at like price, rates and bills since deregulation in 2000

    “UI is more competitive,” Julian added. “They’re very easy to work with, pay everything online, haven’t had any issues with them.”

    Like others in Milford he was out power for five days when Sandy came through. Customers insist though UI did what they could

    “Given the magnitude of everything they had to deal with, I felt very pleased with the kind of service we got,” Flynn added.

    The results were also based on customer service and price.

    Both CL&P and UI say they’re doing what they can to improve service.