National Grid Prepares Personnel and Equipment for Latest Round of Storms

WALTHAM, MA (02/01/2011)(readMedia)-- As New Englanders anticipate two more days of winter precipitation, National Grid is once again gearing up for possible weather-related service interruptions. The most severe weather is predicted to arrive late Tuesday night and continue through the day on Wednesday. The company is scheduling personnel to be available throughout this period, which is when the largest number of potential outages could occur.

"We have crews available to handle any outages that result from today's storm," said Christopher E. Root, National Grid senior vice president of Electricity Operations. "We have also established shifts with 24 hour coverage to ensure we are able to respond to outages throughout the event."

In addition to preparing personnel and equipment, the company has reached out to municipal officials, state emergency management agencies and critical care centers to brief them on the company's storm preparedness operations and how to best contact the company during an emergency.

Tips To Weather the Storm

National Grid offers the following tips for customers to ensure safety and minimize inconvenience in the event that storm-related power interruptions occur. National Grid urges customers to make safety a priority.

• Icing and heavy wet snow can cause local electrical service interruptions. It's a good idea to have a number of working flashlights, at least one battery-operated radio and an extra supply of batteries in your home.
• People who depend on electric-powered life support equipment, such as a respirator, should let National Grid know. To register as a National Grid life support customer, call the company's Customer Service Contact Center at 1-800-322-3223.
• Post National Grid's emergency outage reporting number, 1-800-465-1212, near your telephone so it will be handy if needed. Log onto 'Outage Central' at www.nationalgridus.com to report outages, check restoration times, or view power outage maps for all National Grid territories.
• Tree damage and heavy icing can bring down power lines. People should consider any downed wire they see to be live and dangerous. If you see any fallen lines, broken poles or trees touching wires, please contact National Grid.
• Customers with generators should be sure to install them outside to avoid deadly carbon monoxide. Open windows are inadequate for safely ventilating a generator. To ensure safety, operate generators only outdoors. Before installing generators, be sure to disconnect from National Grid's system by shutting off the main breaker located in the electric service panel.
• Use caution when driving near utility crews at work; keep in mind that the plowed snow banks along many roadways have narrowed available driving and work space, putting crews and their vehicles even nearer to traffic.

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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