Utility better than good
National Grid gets high marks from PSC for service and reliability
Published 6:45 pm, Monday, April 1, 2013
Despite Mother Nature doing all she could to knock out the power, National Grid last year surpassed all its customer service and reliability targets set by regulators for its upstate New York territory.
National Grid and utilities across the state face severe fines from the state Public Service Commission if they don't meet the targets, which cover everything from the number of outages to the number of customer service calls answered within 30 seconds.
The most important measurement for most electricity customers is the number and duration of outages.
Last year, a National Grid customer upstate may not have had to endure even one outage, as the average number experienced per customer was just 0.9, well below the target of 1.13 per customer, and an improvement over 2011.
The average outage last year lasted 2.04 hours, just under the target of 2.05 hours, although that number was higher than the 2011 average of 1.95 hours.
"The fact that we met or exceeded all the targets is good news for customers, and speaks to the tremendous efforts our employees," National Grid spokesman Steve Brady said. "Each year is different and presents its own challenges, so comparisons can be difficult, but clearly our recent trend of having met these targets over several years is quite positive."
PSC fines for electric reliability are steep, even if they exceed their targets by just a little. For instance, if the average outage duration had been greater than 2.05 hours, the company would have had to pay a $3 million fine. And if the durations averaged more than 2.15 hours — just 10 minutes more — the fine would have jumped to $6 million.
National Grid's reliability numbers were actually worse than their five-year average, but the company said the unusual weather had a lot to so with it. Major storms such as Superstorm Sandy are not included in the reliability measures due to their severity, which is difficult to predict or measure.
National Grid has had a decent customer service record despite the criticism that it and other utilities have endured from the public and elected officials, especially in the wake of Sandy. The company last year completed $1.5 billion in upgrades to its equipment across upstate and is planning $1.5 billion more in the next several years.
The company also faces tough penalties on basic customer service measures such as the annual complaint rate and the percentage of meters read.
For instance, if the rate of customer complaints is greater than 2.5 complaints per 100,000 customers, the company faces a $6.08 million fine. Last year, the company's complaint rate was just 0.42 per 100,000 customers, its lowest level dating at least to 2007. The most frequent complaint occurs when someone is upset to receive a final termination notice, a letter saying that their power is going to be shut off for not paying their bills.
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