"STAR OF THE DAY?"

"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth:  and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit."  (Revelation 9:1)

You'd have to have grown up in the Boston area and you'd have to be at least 30 to remember the "Community Auditions" show which ran every Sunday on WBZ-TV channel 4.  It was a "kinder, gentler" version of American Idol.  The (admittedly hokey) theme song was:

"Star of the day, who will it be?
Your vote may hold the key;
It's up to YOU,
Tell us who,
Will be STAR of the DAY?!"

This blog entry has nothing to do with singing or television shows, but it does present a scenario in which you can tell me who should be "Star of the Day".

You may recall that a couple of weeks ago, we had a heating emergency at our home.  It's pretty scary to wake up in the middle of the night smelling burning plastic coming out of the heating vents.  It was also pretty scary to have a tough time getting through NSTAR's voice mail system to finally talk to a "real" person and get a technician dispatched.  It was also scary to wake up the next morning and find that the temperature in the house was 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  Once again, I had to deal with that lovely NSTAR voice mail system.  This time, a technician came out and got everything straightened out.

The next day, I e-mailed the office of my newly elected state Rep. Pam  Richardson.  I had several concerns about NSTAR.  One was that it was NOT easy to get through the mumbo jumbo of NSTAR's voice mail system.  I'm a reasonably articulate 52-year-old college graduate and I had a tough time using it.  I could imagine what things would have been like had I been a semi-confused 80-year-old, or had I been a (legal or illegal) immigrant who spoke poor English.  Another concern is something about NSTAR that began "bugging" me this past Fall.  In mid-October, I received a mailing from NSTAR stating that effective October 1, 2006, NSTAR would NOT come out and service any gas heating systems, water heaters or appliances unless the customer had purchased an NSTAR service contract.  Our residence is church owned.  The church HAD purchased a one-year service contract in 2003 that had run out in 2004.  The policy USED to be that if you had a gas appliance problem and DIDN'T have a service contract, NSTAR would come out and service you, and then add the charge to your bill.  The mailing made it clear that this would no longer be the case.  I read and reread the mailing.  The mailing definitely stated that if you did not have a service contract NSTAR would NOT come out.  Admittedly, it did not specifically state they would not come out if you smelled gas or something like that, but it certainly implied that.  At our next church Board meeting, I read the mailing to the Board.  We all agreed that we should purchase a service contract.  NSTAR gave a choice of 3 possible contracts, and the church selected the most expensive one.  It took effect in November 2006 and thus will expire and need to be renewed in November 2007.  I complained to Rep. Richardson that a state-regulated utility should be EASY to reach in the event of an emergency and that I questioned the legality/ethics of the REQUIRED service contracts.

I was very impressed with Rep. Richardson.  Within a few hours (on a SUNDAY) I had an e-mail reply from her.  I also received telephone calls from Rep. Richardson and her aide Chris within a few days.  The Rep. sent an excellent letter to NSTAR questioning the matters I'd spoken about (with copies to the state regulatory agency and to me).  Finally, they heard from a bigshot (my word) at NSTAR this week.  The NSTAR executive said that they will certainly come out in the event of an emergency and that they do not require customers to have a service contract.  That DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS the mailing of October.  Chris, the aide, said he got the impression there have been a lot of complaints about NSTAR's October mailing and its contents and that he believed they were thus well prepared with a carefully drafted response.  He said that what they have done is probably "legal" although it could certainly be questioned ethically.  He also said, and I completely agree, that having constituents and especially State Representatives holding them accountable for their actions and reminding them of that accountability is a good thing.

Well, speaking of "Star of the Day", I'd give that award with much gratitude to Rep. Richardson and her aide Chris!  As far as NSTAR:  They may call themselves "NSTAR" but they are no stars!  Could it be that NSTAR stands for "no star"?!