Prudence Island being left in the dark

Power supply issues have been plaguing residents, especially on the northern end of the island

By Christy Nadalin
Posted 8/16/18

Interruptions of the power supply are nothing new to longtime residents of Prudence Island; it’s been happening intermittently for years.

But never like this.

Since the week of July …

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Prudence Island being left in the dark

Power supply issues have been plaguing residents, especially on the northern end of the island

Posted

Interruptions of the power supply are nothing new to longtime residents of Prudence Island; it’s been happening intermittently for years.

But never like this.

Since the week of July 4, which coincided with the first real heat of the summer, brownouts have been occurring from Homestead through Warnerville, the Neck Plat, and all the way to the Rossi Farm. 

Readings at the highway department facility on the island have reportedly been as low as 107 volts (120 volts is the minimum required to properly run most household appliances; 220 for some larger ones like electric stoves.)

In addition to the obvious impacts of insufficient voltage, the lack of power is causing residents’ water pumps and other appliances to burn out. What’s more, when appliances work harder, it takes more energy to run them — so island residents are actually paying more money for substandard electrical service.

Island residents have taken to Facebook to document individual experiences and share their frustrations. According to several accounts, the infrastructure is very outdated, with miles of wiring in need of replacement, and one pole in particular that passes over a wetland and is critical to feeding power to the north end of the island is listing at a 45-degree angle.

“This should have been fixed long ago,” said one resident who did not wish to be named. “We’re very exasperated.”

Ed “Hap” Aldrich, who serves as chairman of the Prudence Island Planning Commission, worked with fellow islanders to collect everyone’s stories and accounts and submitted them to the Town of Portsmouth, and ultimately on to National Grid. 

According to Mr. Aldrich, “My neighbors who were affected by this were instrumental in collecting and providing empirical data over a number of specific days that was a great help in clarifying the magnitude of the problem for National Grid.”

State Rep. Susan Donovan was also contacted by island residents, and she forwarded their concerns to the General Assembly’s Constituent Affairs office.

Although the results of these efforts are not yet being realized by the residents, Mr. Aldrich says progress is being made. 

“Rep. Donovan did a great job getting the Legislative Affairs Office into the game before I was able to track down the RIPUC Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission) engineer to make him aware, while our town administrator opened up a dialogue via email with his National Grid liaison and me. That brought quick action from National Grid, who had staff here less than a week after he was notified of the problem. That crew made some adjustments to a piece of regulatory infrastructure to raise the standard line voltage feeding the affected northern end of the island. Unfortunately, we experienced some further issues last week just after that adjustment was made,” wrote Mr. Aldrich in an emailed update.

“I’m told by National Grid that their engineering team is studying the issue with the aim of upgrading existing infrastructure, and possibly adding a new piece to assist with the problem (a voltage regulator) by year’s end.”

In the meantime, island residents are being asked to call 800-322-3223 to report any voltage/service issues, so that there will be a record of each incident. This will give National Grid valuable hard data to better enable them to diagnose the problems, and thereby craft the best possible resolution.

Rep. Donavan, whom Mr. Aldrich credits with getting the Public Utilities Commission on the case, continues to follow this issue closely. “Prudence Island residents pay the same taxes as everyone else, but their infrastructure in antiquated; they don’t have trash pickup,” she said. “It’s really not fair.”

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