National Grid Says Lessons Learned from Irene

A year ago today, Tropical Storm Irene struck the area, causing structural damage, uprooting trees and leaving thousands without power for several days—more than a week for some people. National Grid, which supplies power to Attleboro and Seekonk, says it has learned lessons from the storm and will be better prepared when the next one arrives.

"Since last fall, we have conducted a comprehensive review of our approach to storm response that includes significant input from customers, local and state elected and public safety officials to identify and address areas for improvement," said Marcy Reed, president of National Grid in Massachusetts, in a press release. "We have made good progress and are working hard to do better." 

The press release lists the following enhancements:

• A review of every National Grid employee's storm assignment to maximize their ability to contribute during storms and to help expedite restoration. Particular attention was paid to enhancing resources to support wires down and damage assessment.
• An enhanced damage assessment process that will enable information from the field to be gathered more rapidly, which, coupled with data from existing outage reporting systems will allow National Grid to more quickly and accurately determine where to send crews. This, in turn, will enable the company to determine estimated restoration times faster for customers and communities.
• Expanding contractor relationships that cover a wider geographic area. This effort is focused on contractors in the Midwest and South to increase flexibility and responsiveness in any type of storm. National Grid also has established standardized processes and methods to ensure that contractors are available and ready when needed and to speed deployment of their crews to the field once they arrive.
• A "community liaison" program in which a company representative is assigned to every affected community during a storm to provide community officials direct contact with the company.  The company has a corps of trained community liaisons ready to be deployed during future storms and emergencies.

The release also states that National Grid is "collaborating with local communities on aggressive tree trimming to help limit outages during future weather events" and "has enhanced management of wires down situations to free up local police and fire and has improved dispatching and tracking of outside crews to speed restoration."  

In addition, the company plans to do better at reaching out to customers as a major storm approaches through the use of social media.