National Grid addresses storm preparation and response concerns

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (WLNE) — National Grid says it prepares for every storm, including when winds approached 90 miles an hour in parts of the area during this week’s storm.

“The winds that came through were a little bit more severe, so it did cause some outages,” said Ted Kresse, spokesman for National Grid. “We expected outages, we had a plan in place, and we’re getting folks up as quickly as we can.”

But if it doesn’t feel quick, that’s because National Grid says it has to wait until winds die down enough to be safe for workers. And it has to prioritize public safety.

“There’s a lot of 9-1-1 calls that we get and wires down calls, and we’ve got to ensure that we make the situation safe for the public,” Kresse said.

But some residents are now wondering if anything can be done to prevent the outages in the first place, such as burying the lines underground to protect them from weather extremes or other risks.

Though National Grid is headquartered in Europe, where undergrounding is common practice, the company says it’s not currently feasible to bury all wires here.

Kresse says undergrounding is considered when new developments are under construction. But he says to bury all wires would be more expensive than the $100 million dollars the company spends each year on resiliency and reliability improvements, like $10 million annually on tree-trimming.

And he adds that underground wiring could still be vulnerable to coastal flooding.

“The fact is the matter is we have a lot more storms coming through here, the severity of them can impact the system,” Kresse said. “We’re always concerned about reliability, and we understand how frustrating it can be when customers lose power.”

©WLNE-TV/ABC 6 2019