National Grid Recommends Home Preparations Ahead of Winter
Message from Melissa Lavinson Head of Corporate Affairs, New England, National Grid:
National Grid is encouraging customers to proactively prepare their homes and businesses for the winter season and take advantage of energy and cost-saving measures available through National Grid and our partners at Mass Save. As the weather gets colder and with more frequent and more powerful storms becoming the norm, it’s important for customers to be prepared, stay connected, and take action in advance of the upcoming winter heating season.
Getting Prepared
Our teams work day in and day out to ensure that our customers receive the safest and most reliable energy service possible. We are continuously inspecting, investing in, and upgrading critical infrastructure, performing vegetation management services to keep power lines clear of obstructions, and preparing our crews to respond to significant weather events.
In 2022, National Grid upgraded and modernized our infrastructure across Massachusetts, including work that made our critical facilities that help power and heat homes and businesses more resilient and more secure, added more automation to our system to be able to identify issues before they happen and more quickly restore power if an event occurs, and clear vegetation that is near our infrastructure to avoid outages.
These investments, along with other efforts, have resulted in National Grid having strong system performance in 2023, with our Massachusetts electric network operating at 99.95 availability, providing customers with reliable electric service. In support of our storm preparation and restoration efforts, our teams routinely conduct training drills and tabletop exercises and are in regular contact with local public safety and emergency response officials. And, as you are aware, we have community liaisons assigned to every city and town we serve. We make outbound calls to critical care customers, and undertake robust communication efforts to keep our customers informed.
What Customers Can Do
We appreciate your help and support in reminding members of your community of the steps they can take ahead of any weather events, including:
Creating a winter emergency storm kit (such as batteries for radios and flashlights, bottled water, non-perishable food items, and keeping in mind specific needs for members of your household, including medication and the needs of pets)
Making sure gutters and storm drains are clear of debris and fully operational.
Conducting regular maintenance on generators and familiarizing yourself with safe operation.
Ensuring that furnaces, heat pumps, and water heaters are in proper working order and are correctly vented.
Removing any diseased or dead branches on trees.
Testing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and changing batteries annually.
Staying connected by signing up for text alerts at ngrid.com/mobile.
For additional winter preparation information, please visit ngrid.com/stormprep
How Customers Can Get Assistance and Save Money
Winter also means increased energy usage. For those customers who need help managing their bills we are once again holding Customer Saving Events across Massachusetts. These events are designed to help customers reduce their energy use and lower energy costs, manage their energy bills and payments, and help them secure available energy assistance. National Grid also offers assistance to customers over the phone and online. More information can be found at ngrid.com/heretohelp. National Grid is proud to offer a variety of assistance programs and deferred payment options that are always available for our customers in need.