Methuen Mayor Demands Answers After National Grid Cuts Power Overnight

METHUEN (CBS) - National Grid is being criticized by the Mayor of Methuen for failing to notify the city about a "planned outage" overnight that cut power to 300 residents for several hours. Neil Perry says he's concerned vulnerable residents did not get proper notification and were left in the cold and dark.

"The method of communicating with customers is inadequate. We have a responsibility for the safety of our residents," said the Mayor.

In a statement the utility said that cutting power from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. was necessary to repair a deteriorating pole located at 22 Pelham Street. "We opted to schedule this repair for last night to minimize potential future disruption to our customers," National Grid said. "We communicated that we would have postponed repairs had temperatures been expected to dip."

Methuen resident Kenny Bieweg who is 80 years old said he never received notice of the outage, though National Grid said it sent letters to all affected residents. "I was watching television and everything went off," Bieweg said. "I almost stumbled getting the flashlight to go upstairs and go to bed."

Residents Dave and Pat Boivin said they did receive a letter but questioned the timing of the repair work. "Definitely the spring would be better or summertime unless the pole is ready to fall over," said Dan Boivin.

Pat Boivin said they received the letter last week and if it was an "emergency" repair the work would have been done immediately. "It's not an emergency if they notified you a week earlier," Pat Boivin said.

As a precaution the city set up a temporary shelter, and now Mayor Perry, who says National Grid told him it's not part of the process to notify community officials, has called for a meeting with National Grid next week to review the notification policy not just for his, but any city or town. "If you're doing activity that affects the livelihoods of over 300 residents in the middle of winter the city has an obligation to know," Perry said.