National Grid: Crews 'Working Very Hard' To Restore Power To Hundreds Of Thousands

National Grid, a utility company that supplies electricity to 3.4 million people in the northeastern United States, is currently working to restore power to over 500,000 customers in four states who lost power in the wake of Hurricane Irene, a process that may take days, according to the company.

"Certainly we're looking at days as opposed to hours in terms of restoration, but how many days, I wouldn't want to venture to guess," Steve Brady, a spokesman for National Grid, told HuffPost.

Tom Zeller Jr., senior energy and environment reporter for The Huffington Post, reports that 213,000 National Grid customers in Massachusetts, 103,000 in New York and 3,200 in New Hampshire are without power. USA Today reports an additional 155,000 National Grid customers in Rhode Island are also affected, bringing the current total to over half a million.

Brady, who said that customers continue to report outages, added that crews must wait until storm conditions weaken to even begin assessing the damage from Irene, which on Sunday morning was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm.

"Crews are working very hard, and they will work very long hours to the degree that they can do so safely," he said.

He advised that customers who are experiencing outages stay away from any downed power lines, adding that even wooden tree limbs can conduct electricity even if they are resting on one.

National Grid customers can call area-specific phone numbers to report outages. The company is also responding to customers via Twitter and Facebook.

So far, the storm has left over 4.5 million people -- from North Carolina to New Hampshire -- without power, according to The Weather Channel.

For the most recent news on Irene, read The Huffington Post's live blog.

Comments

[Jymac]

11:09 PM on 08/28/2011

Now does this fall under infrastructure that has been proposed we do to get jobs going?

[Genders]

10:49 PM on 08/28/2011

And how many Nuclear power plants are running on emergency power now, just to prevent meltdowns?

[Justdontgetit]

11:20 PM on 08/28/2011

Hey, that's a great idea. Check it out and let us know, please.

[Genders]

12:11 AM on 08/29/2011

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/28/nuclear-usa-northeast-idUSN1E77R00V20110828

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

08:53 PM on 08/28/2011

We've been without power since about 4 am. The power company assures me that they will try to have most people's power restored within several days. Last time it was 5 days. We are making do with a generator so we are safe and reasonably comfortable. But, we had minor tree damage and that was all the property damage. The local roads in our rural area are each blocked by a flooded bridge or culvert or road between low lying fields. Hopefully they will be clear by morning so that we may get out for work, doctors etc. We were lucky.

[drleebrew]

08:42 PM on 08/28/2011

It will be interesting to hear Pepco's excuses for doing a poor job after this crisis.

[Jessica Ann Stallings]

08:02 PM on 08/28/2011

My friend in Portsmouth lost her power shortly after returning to her home this afternoon. Luckily, it's the ONLY thing she's lost.

[enemyofgod72]

07:39 PM on 08/28/2011

The only thing I've seen National Grid work hard at is charging me more for my electric than it's worth. I live in Niagara Falls, NY less than a mile from the falls itself and also from the power station yet every month on my bill my delivery fees are more than my usage. National Grid sucks, if you're waiting for them to get your power back on I truly have pity for you.

[The Linda]

09:00 PM on 08/28/2011

Why don't you just use candle light and fire. Come on, more than it's worth! We are most of us VERY spoiled indeed!

[Moxo]

07:08 PM on 08/28/2011

Union crews?

[Bwasoon]

08:52 PM on 08/28/2011

I hope so.

[PTAOfficerforObama]

09:15 PM on 08/28/2011

fannned

[realimagist]

09:27 PM on 08/28/2011

My step son is a union lineman (Wisconsin). He's out there now - looking at 18 hour days.

[PTAOfficerforObama]

10:39 PM on 08/28/2011

Bless him... It is a tough job.

[lifepanels]

06:33 PM on 08/28/2011

They've done a good job in my area. I'm in MA and we lost power this morning, but got it back 5 hours later. What helped was that it was during the day, and we were well prepared to be without electricity for a few days.