National Grid MA President Talks About Restoring Storm Damage

The president of the state National Grid branch said Tuesday afternoon that the unusual nature of Saturday's snowstorm led to the protracted power outages in Wrentham and other communities.

Marcy Reed, president of National Grid Massachusetts, said the recent lengthy outages have been because of the severity of the storms, not responsiveness issues.

"This storm was different, because the snow was so heavy and so wet, and trees still had leaves on them, so they were at their weakest," she said. "The devastation has been remarkably similiar to Irene."

She said she would not expect the same problems during regular winter storms.

Reed said she had been speaking with customers and public officials since the storm struck, and understands their frustration.

"These are large storms we're talking about," she said. "Thankfully, this type of storm doesn't happen that often."

According to Reed, the company has invested heavily in tree trimming.

"We're continuously monitoring tree trimming," she said. "We've been on a rather aggressive cycle of trimming."

She said, in response to questions about residents not seeing National Grid trucks on the roads, that the company's early restoration efforts are not always visible.

"The first thing we look at is our transmission system which, by and large, is out in the woods," she said. "That work, for the most part, is complete, and now, in the third day, you're going to see a lot of vehicles on the road."

According to Reed, National Grid worked to ensure power restoration estimates were out as early as possible.

"This time, I think we did a better job [with estimates] — it was earlier than in the past," she said. "We've received feedback from our customers that they'd rather see a guess earlier than a more accurate estimate later."

Reed said the company has 2,500 workers in state communities.

"We have crews here from places like Kansas and Michigan," she said. "We're now in the phase of restoration that's the most difficult — it can take hours to restore power to a small number of houses."

She emphasized safety concerns as power comes back.

"Now, we're at the part of the restoration process where we're energizing lines," she said. "Lines that have previously been dead may now be live."

Reed said people should treat all downed lines as if they were live, and to report the lines to 1 (800) 465-1212.