WALTHAM, MA – National Grid had restored nearly 300,000 customers (including over 100,000 overnight) throughout New England as of Thursday morning, following a powerful Nor’easter that began Tuesday night and lingered in the region throughout most of Wednesday. As of 9 am, 160,113 (146,429 in MA; 13,684 in RI) customers remained without power.

National Grid secured additional external crews who joined its restoration effort yesterday. There are now 3,691 field-based personnel as part of our emergency response operations across New England. This includes overhead line, forestry, contractors, underground, damage assessment, wires down, transmission, and substation workers. This also includes 689 external line crews and 365 external forestry crews.

“I’m proud of our crews who have continued to work safely in very challenging conditions to restore power so many of customers, but we’re very mindful that our job is not done until every customer is restored,” said Michael McCallan, Vice President of New England Electric Operations. “Today we continue our focus on restoring our remaining impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible, while also working to provide more refined estimated times for restoration.”

Damage from the storm, which brought wind gusts over 80 mph across the region is widespread, with the hardest hit areas ranging along Eastern Massachusetts and throughout Rhode Island. The restoration effort is expected to last for multiple days, with the majority of customers restored by Saturday morning. 

National Grid will continue to update estimated time of restoration (ETRs) in its outage central map today to provide the public with town level estimates – representing the estimated time the last customer in the community can expect to be restored.

Estimating the time of power restoration is not an exact science. Work volume, the cause of the outage, and the extent of the damage can all affect time estimates. It's also normal for outage numbers and ETRs to fluctuate.The numbers can go up and down as an ongoing storm causes new outages and/or as we de-energize lines to make conditions safe for repairs and restoration. Additionally, there could be new outages that occur that are separate from storm-related outages.

The Company offers the following tips and reminders:   

Customers Should Stay Connected:  

• Report power outages at www.nationalgridus.com or call 1-800-465-1212.
• Use your mobile device to track outage information and storm-related safety tips through National Grid’s mobile site accessible at www.ngrid.com/mobile.
• Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram; we post all the latest storm and restoration updates.
• Track outages and estimated restoration times at www.nationalgridus.com/outage-central
• To stay connected during storms and outages, text to 64743 using any of the below commands.
  • REG to sign up for text alerts
  • OUT to report an outage
  • SUM followed by your town, county, or state to get a summary of outages in your area
  • HELP for the full list of commands 

• Customers are also encouraged to ensure National Grid has their current email address and phone number on file.  This helps us communicate important updates regarding storms or outages.  Customers can review their contact information at ngrid.com by clicking on “sign in/register.”

Stay Safe: 

• Never touch downed power lines, and always assume that any fallen lines are live electric wires. If you see one, report it immediately to National Grid or your local emergency response organization. 
• Power problems can sometimes interrupt public water supply systems or disable well pumps, so it’s an especially good idea to keep a supply of bottled drinking water handy, as well as some canned food. 
• People who depend on electric-powered life support equipment, such as a respirator, should let National Grid know. To register as a life support customer, call the company’s Customer Service Center at 1-800-322-3223. 
• Check on elderly family members, neighbors and others who may need assistance during an outage period.   

Electric Safety:

• If you use a generator to supply power during an outage, be sure to operate it outdoors. Before operating generators, disconnect from National Grid’s system by shutting off the main breaker located in the electric service panel. Failure to do this could jeopardize the safety of line crews and the public. 
• If you lose power, turn off any appliances that were on when the power went off, but leave one light on so you will know when power is restored. 
• Reminder: It’s not safe to work in an elevated bucket during periods of increased wind gusts. Our line workers begin restoration work only when conditions are deemed safe. 

Gas Safety:

If you suspect a natural gas leak:

• Get Out - All occupants should leave the house immediately.  Do not use the telephone or light switches for any reason.
• Call Us – After leaving the house and reaching a safe environment, call the National Grid 24-hour gas emergency numbers:
• New England:1-800-640-1595
• Stay Out - Do not return to your home until National Grid tells you it is safe.

Additional safety information may be found at https://www.nationalgridus.com/MA-Home/Storm-Safety/

About National Grid

About National Grid: National Grid (NYSE: NGG) is an electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company serving more than 20 million people through our networks in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. National Grid is transforming our electricity and natural gas networks with smarter, cleaner, and more resilient energy solutions to meet the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

For more information, please visit our website, follow us on Twitter, watch us on YouTube, friend us on Facebook, and find our photos on Instagram.