House Minority Leader Filippi Criticizes National Grid Over Lack of Preparedness

House Minority Leader Filippi Criticizes National Grid Over Lack of Preparedness

House Minority Leader Blake Filippi is questioning National Grid for their lack of preparedness in Washington County and is calling on the Public Utilities Commission to take action.

“Once again, many of our residents and businesses are going to be impacted by power outages, possibly for days. The CHARIHO School District, and the Westerly School District, and even classes at URI, have been canceled. Many businesses are closed. Our elderly and infirmed are without power. It is time for National Grid to restore power to our residents today - and take action so that it is a dependable resource in the future,” said Filippi.

According to Filippi, the communities of Westerly, Charlestown and South Kingstown have been significantly impacted by power outages due to last night’s storm.

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According to Filippi, some sections are projected to be without power for days.

Filippi added, “Perhaps more eye-popping than our electric bills is that we suffer these outages year after year - mostly due to the lack of investment in infrastructure and preemptive tree trimming maintenance by National Grid. The Public Utilities Commission needs to hold National Grid accountable for this lack of a reasonable preparedness and establish proactive measures to make sure we’re protected in the future, and the House Oversight Committee should hold everyone’s feet to the fire.”