DPU to investigate National Grid's storm response

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities is investigating National Grid's response to Sunday's snow storm, which the agency says left thousands of customers without power for up to 36 hours.

"The department will take an in-depth look at the company's performance before, during and after the storm to evaluate it's overall emergency response," Ann Berwick, chairwoman of the utilities department, said in a statement yesterday.

Attorney General Martha Coakley, the state's consumer advocate, said she supports the investigation.

"Ensuring that consumers have reliable service is especially important during the winter season in order for consumers to run their furnaces or operate electric heat," Coakley said in a statement today, after her office filed a petition asking regulators to scrutinize National Grid. "Restoring service for residential customers in a reasonable and timely manner should be the top priority, and any lengthy outage in the winter poses a severe threat to public safety."

National Grid did not immediately provide a response.

Coakley's office said it believes the company did not fully follow an emergency response plan it previously filed with the public utilities department that called for it to activate staging areas for repair crews and coordinate efforts with local officials, in advance of a storm.

According to Coakley's petition, National Grid deployed "only seven trouble trucks for all of Plymouth County" on Sunday, when the storm hit. The utility, the petition states, also failed to "communicate and coordinate effectively with local officials" thus "imposing unreasonable costs," and forcing municipalities to divert resources to deal with downed power lines and other problems that should have been handled by National Grid. For instance, Brockton officials had to request help from surrounding communities to fight a house fire because the city's own fire apparatus was being used to secure fallen power lines.