Mass. hits National Grid with $8M fine

NATIONAL GRID IS THE MAIN UTILITY in Rhode Island and much of Massachusetts. The company has been given the largest utility fine in Massachusetts history for poor performance in 2006. /
NATIONAL GRID IS THE MAIN UTILITY in Rhode Island and much of Massachusetts. The company has been given the largest utility fine in Massachusetts history for poor performance in 2006. /

BOSTON – Massachusetts regulators have hit National Grid, the dominant utility company in both that state and Rhode Island, with an $8 million fine for poor performance in 2006, The Boston Globe reported today.

It is the largest penalty the Mass. Department of Public Utilities has ever levied against an individual company. “This is substantial, and it speaks to the issue of system reliability,’ said Timothy Shevlin, the department’s executive director, according to The Globe. The money will be returned to ratepayers.

The $8 million fine stems from a combination of penalties levied based on a yearly review, which determined National Grid’s operations had suffered from poor maintenance, weak storm response and inadequate customer service, The Globe said. The company also failed to meet industry standards for three years in a row.

Regulators declined National Grid’s request for leniency. The utility had argued the problems in 2006 were caused by “extraordinary” storms, but Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office said high-quality storm response is part of National Grid’s responsibility as a utility.

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A National Grid spokeswoman said the utility would pay the fine.

The state is also considering a fine against Unitil Corp., a utility in the region around Fitchburg, Mass., for failing to respond adequately to last December’s ice storm.

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