National Grid Makes Significant Progress on Power Restoration in Massachusetts

WALTHAM, MA (08/30/2011)(readMedia)-- August 30, 2011, 9:00 a.m. – Forty eight hours after Hurricane Irene swept through the state, National Grid has made significant progress in restoring affected customers. Approximately 165,000 Massachusetts customers are without power, down from a peak of nearly 500,000 at the height of the storm on Sunday.

As of 9:00 A.M. on August 30, outages in Massachusetts counties served by National Grid are as follows:

For outage information for a specific community, log on to www.nationalgridus.com and select "Massachusetts" on the Outage Central banner.

Estimated Restoration Times to be Available Today

According to National Grid Chief Operations Officer Ellen Smith, the company was able to complete damage assessment on 60% of its main distribution power lines in Massachusetts yesterday in the 170 communities it serves. Damage assessments are expected to be complete today, allowing National Grid to have overall estimates for restoration for all communities by the end of the day. The estimated restoration times indicate when the last customers in a given community are expected to get power back.

It is important to understand that customers are being restored on an ongoing basis 24 hours a day.

"We want our customers to know that we are doing everything we can to restore their power," Smith said . "We have thousands of personnel dedicated to the restoration effort including crews from as far away as Texas and Colorado. We will continue to work around the clock until every customer has power."

According to Smith, crews continue to encounter challenges such as severe equipment damage from fallen trees, roads that are blocked by large trees and areas that are flooded. The company is using helicopters, amphibious vehicles and ATVs to access remote and difficult-to-reach areas.

Smith added, "While we are making progress and have restored service to thousands, our crews continue to face challenges in many areas by flooding concerns, closed roads and bridges, and trees and limbs that will need to be removed."

The damage assessment completed so far reveals the extent of the devastation Irene has wrought on National Grid's Massachusetts system including:

• 130 locations with significant tree damage
• 125 poles that need to be replaced
• 240 locations with primary lines down or that need to be replaced

Also in Massachusetts, 20 of 27 transmission lines that were out of service have been restored. The remaining seven transmission lines have no customer outages associated with them. All 27 lines were patrolled by helicopter today; the patrols revealed tree related damage, structure damage and washouts from floods.

National Grid's New England Customer Service Center has fielded more than 350,000 calls since the start of the storm, and on Sunday set a record for volume of calls received in a single day.

Under the company's priority system, repair crews typically first address problems with transmission lines and substations that serve large numbers of customers, and restore critical customers such as hospitals and public safety facilities.

Concurrently, crews target lines that serve local neighborhoods. Lines and transformers within neighborhoods and the wires that connect them to homes and businesses come next, starting with areas that involve the most customers.

Staying Safe After the Storm

National Grid urges customers to be vigilant as they clean up from Irene and as the restoration continues. There still may be lines down that could be live, and they may not be readily visible because they are in a flooded area or under fallen trees or tree limbs. If you see lines down, call National Grid immediately at 800-465-1212.

If you use a generator make sure your wiring system is disconnected from our system before operating the generator. This is necessary to prevent your generator's electricity from going back into our system, which could endanger the lives of line crews and your neighbors. Be sure to only use generators outdoors. Exhaust fumes contain poisonous carbon monoxide and can kill or cause serious injury.

If your home is flooded:

• Check with an electrician before turning on anything.
• Do not turn off the gas meter even in the event of an evacuation. The gas meter should be left on to maintain proper pressure in the gas piping within the house and to prevent water from entering the lines should flooding occur.
• Most gas appliances have safety valves that shut off the flow of gas automatically if the pilot light goes out. If your appliances have been in contact with water, please contact a licensed plumbing or heating contractor to make sure the appliances are safe to operate.
• If we shut off your gas service for safety reasons, we will provide instructions on steps required to safely restore service. Don't forget to check outdoor appliances, such as pool heaters and gas grills.

Log on to www.nationalgridus.com for more information on how to stay safe after Irene.

National Grid is an international energy delivery company. In the U.S., National Grid delivers electricity to approximately 3.3 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island, and manages the electricity network on Long Island under an agreement with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). It is the largest distributor of natural gas in the northeastern U.S., serving approximately 3.4 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island. National Grid also owns over 4,000 megawatts of contracted electricity generation that provides power to over one million LIPA customers.

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