With the potential for severe weather across the Capital Region on Monday, National Grid crews are out and prepared to help restore power as outages occur, but the coronavirus has changed how they've been doing things. There are tips while you're stuck inside if the power goes out.

Communications Manager Patrick Stella says National Grid has local crews and contractors on standby ready to restore outages with a pandemic plan and social distancing in place.

“Sometimes our crews have to be in closer proximity due to the work they're doing. We do have masks available for them so we're doing everything that we can do,” Stella said. “And beyond our field crews, our regional control folks are being sequestered right now. They've been sequestered for several weeks, so they're actually living in the control centers.”

The company has about 20 control centers across New York, including one in the Capital Region and one in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. Control center personnel dispatch crews and make sure power lines they're fixing are not live. Since the company's pandemic plan went into effect, they're working in 12-hour shifts and are typically staying on-site for 30 days at a time to stay healthy.

“We have trailers that have beds and washers and dryers and things like that. They set up a makeshift gym in the office so they can get some exercise,” Stella said. “They're relying a lot on FaceTime and zoom and all these things to stay in touch with their families.”

MORE COVERAGE

While their workers are making sacrifices, you can help.

  • Stella says stay away from live wires if you see one down.
  • Be sure to alert National Grid at 1-800-867-5222 if you see a downed power line or have a power outage.
  • If you're stuck inside, try to limit your trips to the fridge to preserve foods.
  • If you have a generator, “We ask that you pull the main circuit breaker in your house while you're running the generator because if you don't it risk the electricity from your home going back to our lines to our crews working on them,” Stella said. “And we just ask customers to be patient if we are taking a little while, there's a lot of people at home right now relying on the technology they have in their house to work and do schoolwork and all those things, we're cognizant of that.”

If there is an outage in your neighborhood, National Grid wants to know that you can call or report online, and they have a fairly new feature to text an outage in. You have to go into your account and make sure you opt in with your cell phone number in order to sign up for text alerts.

National Grid Outage Map