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National Grid workers showed real compassion

    For three days, our home was without much heat and had no power. A downed tree made our house the victim and the only one on the block without power.
    When the National Grid truck arrived, it was to cut the wires from the house and put us on their "list." I understood that we would be one of the last sites to be restored.
    Three hours later that same truck returned, and in 15 minutes the house was back on line. At the very same time, the tree cutters and debris movers were cleaning up the front of my house and blocked driveway. I was told that they didn't want our house to be lost in the paperwork. All the more meaningful for my disabled 81-year-old mother, too compromised to move to a shelter.
    We met our guardian angels that day wearing hard hats and overalls. Now I know the real meaning of compassionate caring for a fellow man. I will now turn and around and extend the same compassion to others. Thank you all.

    IRIS BARTKOWSKI
    Schenectady

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00708

Some are criticizing the speed which they restored power (or turned off power, Like Joe Allen starting an investigation in the case of Tony's Market) - but personally, they worked their ***'s off getting limbs off lines and getting power restored rather quickly.

Sure, there's gonna be isolated incidents, but they did a great job bringing in crews from other areas as far away as Michigan to help with the cleanup and restoration.

My ONLY gripe, if I had to find one, is I wish they'd been a bit more proactive in clearing limbs from near major lines during the warmer months.  Some trees just hang WAY too close to transmission lines. National Grid maintains a right-of-way around all lines/poles - they probably could have done a better job to prevent this from happening in the first place (but, that leads to higher bills for everyone). Additionally, homeowners should be proactive to make sure trees on THEIR property aren't jeopardizing power/phone/cable lines. A little personal responsibility goes a long way.

A mouthful MT.....

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By the numbers

By the end of the storm, National Grid expects

350 utility poles and 150 transformers replaced

3,000 individual tasks such as reconnecting wires and re-setting 772,000 feet of power line across a 3,700-square-mile area

1,000 crews used from as far away as Indiana and Michigan

500 employees booked in 31 area hotels

9,600 gallons of diesel fuel used by its trucks

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=751283&TextPage=2