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The Site => General discussion => Topic started by: Mike on August 27, 2012, 05:38:23 PM
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[From http://wpri.com/]
National Grid plans $60M in upgrades
Changes spurred by Tropical Storm Irene outages
Updated: Monday, 27 Aug 2012, 5:35 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 27 Aug 2012, 5:35 PM EDT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- National Grid is spending $60 million on improvements it says will help improve the way it prepares for storms and responds to power outages.
Officials said Monday the money will be used to upgrade power lines, replace poles, put in new transformers, improve substation operations and trim trees.
National Grid has also asked the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission to add 21 new positions, including 19 electrical workers to help with storm preparation and restoration efforts.
The utility has also asked the Public Utilities Commission to approve a temporary rate increase to help replenish its storm fund. It spent $33 million related to Tropical Storm Irene.
Well over half National Grid's Rhode Island customers lost power in that storm. The utility was criticized for the speed of its response.
Oh yeah anything to raise the rates eh? :P
I lost power for a couple days but some people out in rural areas had no power or running water (due to them having wells which require electricity) for over a WEEK! Three major problems were than Narragansett Electric had built many of its substations in low-lying areas, forcing NGrid to have to pump up to eight feet of water to restore the substations. The next was the NGrid has been consistantly spending less money trimming trees. The third was that many of the utility poles here are from the 1950s and even earlier. They simply splintered under the severe wind.
Some of these poles were damaged prior to Irene hitting new england but were never renewed by NGrid. Added equippement such as additional lines and new transformers have put more uncalled for stress on older poles here as well, which is another contributing factor to why so many poles and crossarms failed. National Grid is supposedly going to crack down on older poles (which probably number about a third of RI's poles and half of Cranston's poles. I have noticed more frequent pole renewals, especailly those supporting transformers and numerous primary lines.