The moneyed folk inhabiting the Connecticut environs of the hedge fund town Greenwich wield plenty of power. But many of them have lately been powerless. For the second time in barely more than two months, a huge swath of the two million captive customers of Northeast Utilities, the power company that covers territory from the Constitution State up through western Massachusetts and into New Hampshire, have spent too many days without electricity.

In an echo of the financial crisis, it turns out that better risk management and stronger regulation could have made the fallout much less bad. This raises serious questions about Northeast’s competence — and whether it should be allowed to complete a $4.7 billion takeover of a Massachusetts rival, Nstar.

The first blow was Hurricane Irene in August. Then came a once-in-a-generation pre-Halloween snowstorm. Both were highly unlikely and unpredictable events, utilities argue, so when uprooted trees and snow-laden branches took down power lines, the responsibility lay mainly with God.

But giving Northeast, specifically its Connecticut Light and Power subsidiary, a divine pass is like absolving Lehman Brothers of any blame for its demise in 2008. Like financial firms, utilities need to manage risks. And they have it relatively easy: much of the task simply involves clearing overhanging trees and other hazards from power lines.