BROCKTON — Your power’s out. But National Grid’s outage map shows nothing on your street. That’s the situation several Brookfield neighborhood families in Brockton have faced since Monday’s wind storm. Here’s what Christine Miller, a spokesperson for the utility giant, had to say to customers in that situation:
What to do if your outage isn’t on map
Q: If an outage isn’t on the map, does that mean National Grid’s unaware of it?
A: Customers should always reach out to us if they don’t have power and especially if they think an outage hasn’t been reported. Report power outages at www.nationalgridus.com or call 1-800-465-1212. They can also receive text message alerts and updates when they text the word STORM to NGRID (64743). I lost power yesterday and, because I subscribe to our texts, I received a text from National Grid confirming that the company was aware of my outage.
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What ‘estimated restoration time’ means
Q: How many Brockton-area customers are likely to have to wait until Thursday at 11 p.m., which is the time the last resident is expected to have power restored in most of the Brockton outages, as of Tuesday evening?
A: Most of the estimated restoration times (ETRs) currently posted for Brockton and elsewhere are global ETRs – meaning they represent when the last customer in that area is expected to receive power restored. Certainly many more will receive power back before then.
Restoration times not an ‘exact science’
Q: How does National Grid come up with the time estimates?
A: 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 our time estimates. This is especially true during this storm, which has caused widespread damage to our entire distribution system.
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Here’s which outages are tackled first
Q: Do customers have any way of knowing where they are in line?
A: While we know it can be frustrating for those customers without power, we currently can only provide a general time estimate due to the complexity of our distribution system. High-voltage transmission lines are given priority because they supply electricity to the entire system. Next, we focus on substations and local distribution lines that serve multiple locations. From there, individual power service can be restored. In short, we’re generally always going to prioritize those repairs that will bring the most customers back before we get down to individual street repairs that impact less customers. For those last customers it is possible that restoration could take until Thursday – but of course we’re making every effort to beat that estimate.
Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on X at @HelmsNews.
