Department of Public Utilities Hearings on National Grid's Storm Response

I wanted to take a moment to update residents on the State's investigation into the October storm response by National Grid. As previously conveyed, the State has been holding Public Hearings in various communities throughout the region to take sworn testimony from public officials and residents specific to National Grid's October storm response. Tonight, I attended the Department of Public Utilities Public Hearing in Brookfield on behalf of our community, as did our Town Administrator, and provided sworn testimony outlining our experience, concerns and dissatisfaction with the efforts undertaken by National Grid's executive management team. As this was a Public Hearing and Investigation relative to National Grid's response, speakers who desired their comments to be reflected in the investigation's Public Record were required to be sworn under oath prior to providing testimony. To be clear, the testimony offered by the Town Administrator and myself was specifically directed at National Grid's executive management staff and information coordination centers - not the utility/line crews working on the front lines, as these hard working individuals who themselves sacrificed much during this event are not responsible for the poor coordination, communication, and execution of National Grid's emergency response plan; the accountability for planning and execution of said plan rests squarely with the upper management levels of National Grid.


Senator Brewer and other State Senators were in attendance as were representatives from the Attorney General's Office, elected and appointed officials from surrounding communities, as well as residents from same. In terms of Sturbridge, one resident who was in attendance also provided sworn testimony that delivered a powerful and heartfelt message to those in attendance at the well attended Public Hearing.

The genesis of my comments were based upon public discussions the Board has previously entertained and were directed at the lack of appropriate preparation and pre-storm maintenance, the lack of a coordinated approach in terms of National Grid working cooperatively with our Incident Management Team (IMT) to prioritize and effectively direct power restoration, the lack of timely and trustworthy information provided by National Grid to our IMT and residents alike, as well as the failure of National Grid's management team to fundamentally address the challenges they were faced with in an effective and organized manner. I also strongly encouraged Senator Brewer and his colleagues to work collectively to reduce restrictions/roadblocks to the establishment of Municipal Power Companies thereby affording more local communities the latitude to establish their own municipal power entities (similar to those in existence in other communities), so as to provide alternatives to and a greater competitive edge against National Grid's monopoly in this region.

The Town Administrator represented the community extremely well and provided corroborating testimony that reflected the concerns and frustrations experienced by the Town's Incident Management Team in terms of the lack of credible and timely information, as well as the overall lack of coordination and cooperation as it related to National Grid's addressing our identified priorities and needs. Noteworthy is the fact that Town Administrator Shaun Suhoski was the only appointed municipal administrator/manager in attendance. Again, we were specific to note that our dissatisfaction with National Grid's response was directed at the executive management level and information coordination/distribution centers, not the utility/line crews who performed admirably under extremely difficult conditions.

The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) will be accepting written comments until December 22, 2011 and the Town Administrator and myself will be drafting separate letters for consideration by the Board of Selectmen as part of additional testimony to be offered on behalf of our community. Equally, as DPU is now transitioning to the "adjudicatory phase" as the next step in their public investigation, there is an opportunity for the Town of Sturbridge to become a party to DPU's "petition to intervene", which must be submitted by 22 December, 2011.

In order for a community to actively participate in the evidentiary hearings "...where witnesses, primarily from the Company, will testify and be subject to cross-examination by DPU and the Attorney General, it must submit a petition to intervene. Although members of the public may attend the evidentiary hearings, only parties to the proceeding may participate". I will be discussing this process with DPU Hearing Officer Jennifer Murphy over the next day or so in an attempt to better evaluate the potential benefits for our community, so that appropriate information can be provided to the Board of Selectmen for possible discussion during our meeting of December 19, 2011.

There may be value in remaining fully engaged in the "adjudicatory phase" by way of demonstrating our resolve as it relates to the need for National Grid's executive management team to work more effectively, efficiently, proactively, and collaboratively with our community. That said, on a separate but hopefully more beneficial and immediate track, I spoke with National Grid's Massachusetts President Marcy Reed and Regional Liason Aleta Fazzone this evening and I will be facilitating a meeting between members of their executive management team and representatives from our community in the hopes of establishing a framework for a more robust and productive relationship that will hopefully foster the most favorable outcome for all Sturbridge residents.

Additional information will be forthcoming as appropriate.