National Grid Restores More than 86 Percent of Customers Impacted After Nor’easter Pummels Upstate New York

Company Asks Public to Exercise Caution as Crews Continue Restoration and Cleanup Efforts

National Grid’s field force of nearly 1,500 workers has made significant progress working in hazardous conditions over the last 24 hours to successfully restore power to 86 percent of the 167,000 customers impacted by the powerful nor’easter that pummeled upstate New York yesterday. The company’s crews have been working around the clock – through blizzard conditions -- removing downed trees, tree limbs, and other hazards and repairing circuits across the company’s 25,000-square-mile service area.

The treacherous weather conditions and resulting heavy snow on trees continue to cause new power outages in pockets of upstate. Crews remain dedicated to restoring power to 24,000 customers who are currently without electricity service, primarily in the hardest hit areas of the Southern Tier, the Mohawk Valley, and portions of Central and Eastern New York.

Estimated Restoration Times

Western NY: Restoration in the southwest region will be complete for the majority of customers by midnight tonight, with isolated pockets and scattered single customer outages restored in the localized hardest hit areas Sunday morning.

Central NY: Restoration will be complete for the majority of customers this morning, with isolated pockets and scattered single customer outages restored in the hardest hit areas by early evening.

Mohawk Valley: Restoration will be complete for the majority of customers by midnight tonight, with isolated pockets and scattered single customer outages restored in the hardest hit areas by late Sunday afternoon.

Eastern NY: Restoration will be complete by midnight tonight, with isolated pockets and scattered single customer outages restored in the localized hardest hit areas by mid-day Sunday.

Customers who remain without power when their neighbors have been restored should call National Grid at 1-800-867-5222.

“We deeply appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding as we continue our focus on restoring service as quickly and safely as possible,” said Melanie Littlejohn, National Grid’s New York vice president. “We also are grateful for the support and partnership of our state, county and local first-responders and emergency coordinators as well as the support and resiliency of our communities and customers.”

Once restoration is completed, National Grid crews will remain in the field for a number of days as storm cleanup continues. The company urges drivers to use extreme caution as they approach work areas, to ensure the safety of utility and other storm-response personnel.

Additionally, customers are reminded to avoid downed wires.  All wires should be considered live and should be immediately reported to National Grid at 1-800-867-5222, or by calling 911.

National Grid provides several ways for customers to learn about and report power outages during storms.  To receive free text message alerts and updates, text the word STORM to NGRID (64743).  E-mail alerts are available to customers who create an online profile on the company’s website.  All alert services can be started and stopped at the customer’s request.

Customers can see real-time outage information and report an outage on the Outage Central page of the company’s web site. National Grid also provides storm and restoration updates through Facebook and Twitter.