ALBANY — National Grid is facing a nearly $17 million penalty for not meeting customer service standards in 2025, according to a report from the Public Service Commission.
The Public Service Commission announced on Thursday, July 16 that National Grid was one of five audited utility companies that missed their performance standards in 2025 and are now facing a combined $50.1 million in fines.
According to the report, National Grid did not meet its targeted customer satisfaction rates, or its call answer rates.
National Grid’s residential customer satisfaction rate was 76.2%, falling short of its 82% goal, with 69.9% of small to medium commercial customers reporting satisfaction, again short of the 78% target, the report states. The company targeted a 79.2% call answer rate, but fell short with a 58.1% rate.
According to the report, National Grid attributed the missing of the targets to customers’ unhappiness with high bills, issues with billing and payment, delays in connected gas and electric, and frequent outages.
The report states that National Grid collects residential customer satisfaction information with a 28-question phone survey, and the PSC recommended that the survey be shortened to improve response rates.
National Grid also had to issue 883 credits for missed appointments, totaling $26,430, according to the report.
Such deficiencies resulted in a negative revenue adjustment of $16.95 million for National Grid, which are meant to incentivize better customer service by reducing shareholder earnings. The negative revenue adjustments are automatically credited to customers under the rate plans, or deferred until the next rate case as regulatory liabilities that the commission can use to offset part of the revenue requirement for customer benefit, according to the announcement.
