National Grid Supports White House Call to Action and Signs on to Green Button Initiative

WALTHAM, MA (05/02/2012)(readMedia)-- National Grid announced today that it will participate in the Green Button initiative, a program inspired by the White House's challenge to the energy industry to provide energy consumers with innovative tools and information to help them better understand their energy use and use energy wisely. The initiative is a joint effort among several utilities, technology companies and the federal government to help consumers save energy and money by providing access to standardized, routine, easy-to-understand data on their energy usage.

With Green Button, consumers will be able to securely download their household energy data from their utility's website to track their energy consumption and use that information to reduce usage and costs. Consumers also have the option to provide their data to energy suppliers and other energy companies in order to participate in programs that can further reduce their energy costs. In addition, consumers can use a growing number of web and smart phone tools to make more informed energy decisions. Innovative apps also are available: One allows Facebook friends to compete against each other to save energy and lower their carbon footprints.

National Grid plans to offer Green Button to 15,000 customers who will be included in the company's proposed smart grid pilot in Worcester, Mass. to the extent the pilot is approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. The company submitted its smart grid proposal to the DPU earlier this year and it is currently under review. The company also plans to evaluate offering Green Button to its entire customer base in the US.

"Participation in the Green Button initiative is a natural fit with our smart grid pilot because it provides yet another innovative tool that gives customers the best information available, empowering them to make decisions about their energy use. This means customers can play an active role in understanding and reducing their energy use and therefore save on costs," said Tom King, president of National Grid in the US.

National Grid's smart grid pilot proposal is built on customer engagement and input from the community garnered from the Green Today, Growth Tomorrow Community Summit co-hosted by National Grid and the City of Worcester in September 2011. The smart grid pilot enables customers to pioneer the use of some of the latest advances in smart grid and information technologies, while providing an important pathway to improving service to customers. The smart grid pilot is designed to create greater choice for customers in how they use energy as well as increase electric system reliability and promote a cleaner environment.

Cheri Warren, vice president, Asset Management, National Grid, will be on the plenary session focusing on Green Button to kick off the 2012 IEEE Power and Energy Society Transmission and Distribution Conference and Expo, Orlando, Fla., May 7- 10. Green Button also will be featured on Smart Grid Day at the Conference on May 9, where National Grid with representatives from the City of Worcester will play a key role. The conference is expected to attract 14,000 to 16,000 attendees. For more information visit: www.ieeet-d.org.

To learn more about Green Button, visit www.greenbuttondata.org.

About National Grid

National Grid (LSE: NG; NYSE:NGG) is an electricity and gas company that connects consumers to energy sources through its networks. The company is at the heart of one of the greatest challenges facing our society - to create new, sustainable energy solutions for the future and developing an energy system that underpins economic prosperity in the 21st century. National Grid holds a vital position at the center of the energy system and it 'joins everything up'.

In the northeast US, we connect more than seven million gas and electric customers to vital energy sources, essential for our modern lifestyles. In Great Britain, we run the gas and electricity systems that our society is built on, delivering gas and electricity across the country.

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

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