Attorney General Pressures National Grid After Fall Wind Storm

TEWKSBURY, MA -- Thousands of Massachusetts customers were left without power for several days during a wind storm last October because National Grid was too reliant on a single source for weather forecasts and "wasn't aware of the importance of classifying emergency events," according to a July 9 filing by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. The filing is part of an investigation by the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which is looking into the utility's response to the October 29 wind storm. The investigation could lead to fines for National Grid.

In her filing, Healey had acknowledged that National grid had made some problems uncovered by the storm, which forced Merrimack Valley schools to be canceled for several days as the utility tried to restore power. The utility has adopted a "zone approach" for dispatching repair crews in major weather events which should better help it prioritize problem areas. The company has also committed to having at least two people staffing its control room during storms to address complaints that towns and cities could not contact the utility during last fall's storm and its aftermath. The utility has also made improvements in how it communicates information during outages, including estimated power restoration times.

But Healey said her office remains concerned that National Grid seems to rely almost exclusively on DTN, a subscription weather service, when planning storm responses.

"In advance of the Wind Storm, the [National Weather Service's] reports on October 28 and 29 showed steadily increasing, inland wind gusts while DTN continued to indicate that the strongest wind gusts would remain off the coast," the filing said. "National Grid’s decision to copy and paste the DTN weather forecast into its pre-event report to the Department, without noting any conflicting NWS information, further evidences National Grid’s sole reliance on DTN."

Healey's office also wants National Grid to update its emergency response plan to provide specific guidance of what it would do at each level of its incident grading protocol.

"National Grid’s testimony downplaying the importance of event classification raises concerns about how the Company decides resource acquisition in preparation for forecasted weather events," the filing said.

In a response to the filing, Naional Grid disputed the assertion that it solely relies on DTN and said that it takes event classification seriously, but it is difficult to do so before storms and before it knows how many lines will need to be repaired. National Grid also claims it fully complied with Massachusetts rules for utility's during last fall's storm.

"Importantly, the AG Comments do not point to any evidence or make any arguments that the Company did not adhere to the Department’s standards for emergency preparation and restoration of service...or that the Company did not implement all applicable components of its Emergency Response Plan, or that the Company did not restore service to its customers in the context of the Storm in a safe and reasonably prompt manne," National Grid said in its July 16 response to Healey's filing. "Based on the evidence presented in this proceeding and as argued in National Grid’s Initial Brief, the Company has complied with the Department’s standards regarding emergency preparation or restoration of service, and there are no grounds for any penalties in this proceeding."

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Photo of wind storm damage on the Andover-Tewksbury town line on October 30, 2017 by Dave Copeland/Patch.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).