Former CL&P President Selling Avon House
House for sale
Jeffrey D. Butler, the Connecticut Light & Power chief who resigned after he became the lightning rod for criticism of the company’s power restoration attempt after the Halloween snowstorm, put his Avon house up for sale Thursday for $1.6 million.
Butler and his wife Susan bought the 6,800-square-foot Colonial on Pembroke Drive in 2009 and are listing the 5-bedroom, 5.3-bathroom home for approximately the same price they paid for it.
Just eight houses priced at $1.5 million or higher have sold in Avon since the Butlers purchased the home, and there are at present five other homes in the town on the market in that price range, according to Rob Giuffria, president of Prudential Premier Homes in Farmington.
“The market for $1.5 million plus homes in Avon and the nearby area is still in transition, and I would anticipate the Butler home to sell for much less than the list price,” Giuffria said. “Who knows, maybe somebody will buy it because they believe they won’t lose power to the house.”
The listing agent, Ellen Seifts of Prudential Connecticut Realty in Avon, did not instantly respond today to an e-mail seeking comment. A call to Butler’s home was not immediately returned.
The brick Colonial on two-acres boasts views of the Heublein-Tower and includes a game room, wine cellar, a gunite pool with hot tub, a waterfall and koi pond, a guest house with full bath and kitchenette and a 4-car heated garage.
Butler, an engineer by training, resigned in November among a firestorm over CL&P’s handling of the storm recovery and aftermath. Charles Shivery, CEO of CL&P parent Northeast Utilities, said Butler was not forced out or asked to step aside, but offer to leave because it seem his remaining on the job could become an issue that would hinder the company’s efforts to move forward.
Butler moved to Connecticut to take the CL&P president job, after a long career in the energy industry, nearly completely in California at Pacific Gas and Electric.
Butler became well-known to the state residents during twice-a-day, high-profile, televised news conferences after the Oct. 29 storm that left hundreds of thousands of customers in the dark for a long as 11 days.
The listing did not talk about that the house has a back-up generator, but Butler told reporters at one briefing that he had a generator but it failed during the power outage, also leaving Butler in the dark.
