City Officials Press Utility For Better Communication
In the restaurant and bar-filled Canal District area of Worcester, the electricity went out right at the start of the New England Patriots’ AFC championship game in late January, leaving businesses unable to air the first quarter of the game and costing them business.
That was among the recent (and less lengthy) examples of outages cited by city officials Monday in a unique meeting with National Grid and Department of Public Utilities representatives, including Commissioner David Cash.
“It was a major day in a major restaurant district,” City Manager Michael O’Brien said. “Everyone was struggling to find out what that restoration time is.”
While it would be difficult to eliminate power outages entirely, Worcester officials said National Grid is not doing enough to keep them updated and able to respond at the local level. National Grid officials said they’re limited by their current infrastructure.
Communication ‘Woefully Inadequate’
O’Brien said communication from National Grid was “woefully inadequate” prior to the December 2008 ice storms that paralyzed much of the state, but he said communication has improved since.
O’Brien said he understands investment in the aging grid, which he said has shown its frailty, is necessary to upgrade to technology that can inform the utility about outages more quickly, and as a result, city officials were swamped with calls from residents and businesses with no electricity.
Still, he said he would like to see communication further improved.
City Councilor Philip Palmieri, chair of the public service and transportation committee, said better notification has been needed for years so the city can give residents accurate information and provide warming shelter if needed.
“We don’t have the kind of infrastructure in place that will communicate to our city what the problems are, how long it’s going to be and what we can do about it,” Palmieri said.
(Disclosure: The Worcester Business Journal rents office space from Palmieri)
He noted that National Grid often doesn’t know about an outage until a resident reports it.
He asked Aleta Fazzone, director of community and customer management for National Grid, if the utility can do a better job of notifying the city of outages.
Fazzone said National Grid can react more quickly to larger outages, but is unable to do instantaneous notifications.
Further pressed by Palmieri as to whether the utility could satisfy O’Brien’s requests for more detailed and quicker outage updates, she answered: “In many cases, yes. In some cases, we cannot.”
Cash, the DPU commissioner, commented briefly, recommending that the city and National Grid draft a joint communication plan to reach an understanding of what exactly the city is looking for.
“It sounds like Mr. O’Brien is not getting some needs met here,” Cash said. “With the preparation of a communications plan, the utility will have a sense of the kind of communication you need.”
More Meetings
Palmieri said there would be further meetings with the utility, and asked Monday for a report on what sort of investment and infrastructure upgrades National Grid would need to improve communication with the city.
“We at least for our next meeting would like to know what can be done, what can’t be done and how we can improve it,” he said.
He also asked for a report on the utility’s five-year vegetation trimming plan for the city. Utility representatives said the company spends an average of $450,000 per year on trimming, excluding during major storms.
Eric Gemborys, senior forestry supervisor for National Grid, said the city’s tree warden has not signed off on the trimming of “hazard trees” for the past three years because of concerns over the Asian long-horned beetle infestation.
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