State: Utility Not to Blame in New Hampshire Power Shutoff Death

State regulators said an electric utility acted appropriately when it shut off power to a woman who didn’t pay her power bill and died after an oxygen machine she needed stopped working. The state Public Utilities Commission reviewed National Grid’s disconnection of service to Kay Phaneuf, 53. She died June 24, three days after her husband found her unconscious, about an hour after power was cut. Police said the bill wasn’t paid. Her account had a medical protection notice intended to prevent such a shutoff in the past, but it had lapsed.