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New England’s notoriously harsh weather showed itself in January, bringing extremely frigid temperatures for a prolonged period to Massachusetts and pummeling the state with up to 22 inches of snow on Jan. 25-26. Despite these severe conditions, the electric and natural gas systems performed reliably, with less than one percent of Eversource’s approximately 1.58 million electric customers in Massachusetts losing power statewide, and no significant disruptions for gas customers.
Ensuring our customers had access to critical energy services when they were needed most wasn’t a coincidence, and it wasn’t just the weather. It reflects years of focused work to strengthen the electric and gas systems and prepare for severe storms. As a result, residents across Massachusetts were able to go about their daily lives — children learning remotely, families cooking meals in their kitchens, households staying warm while watching the Patriots advance to another Super Bowl — even as severe weather raged outside.
That work is increasingly important given the reality of operating energy delivery companies in a time of heightened climate risk, when extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense. Preparing for severe winter storms and deep freezes is a baseline expectation for utilities across New England — and one that January’s weather showed we plan for intentionally and effectively, with an ever-present focus on affordability. When customers wonder what they get for their electric and gas bills, this is it: systems that continue to deliver when needed most.
Eversource electric customers have benefited from a system that has ranked in the top 10% nationally for reliability in recent years, thanks to proactive, prudent investments to make infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather. Along with safety and reliability, affordability guides every decision we make, and importantly, we’ve been able to invest in our system in a cost-effective way, with our distribution costs in the middle of the pack nationally.
This includes the cost of our comprehensive vegetation management program, which is critical to ensuring reliability for customers in a heavily forested region like ours, where trees remain the leading cause of storm-related power outages. With approximately 11,500 miles of roadside distribution lines in Massachusetts, our vegetation management crews work year-round to trim hazardous trees that threaten reliability.
On the natural gas side, our customers also benefit from a system designed to perform under extreme conditions. Massachusetts has some of the oldest natural gas infrastructure in the country, which makes continued investments essential. Those investments allow the system to handle volatile temperature swings and maintain reliable pressure during deep freezes — which isn’t a choice in New England winters — and they also include our own liquified natural gas (LNG) and propane facilities that provide critical supply when regional pipeline capacity is constrained, helping to strengthen the system’s resilience and prevent service interruptions. As a result of these cumulative efforts, our gas system across Massachusetts performed well during January’s prolonged cold snap — safeguarding customers’ access to heat despite persistent extremely low temperatures.
Weather conditions themselves have also played an important role. Extremely cold temperatures meant the snow was dry and relatively light. Along with light winds, less weight on tree limbs helped avoid the type of damage that typically leads to major, statewide electric impacts. We were also fortunate that, despite the arctic cold and high demand, the region’s tightly constrained energy supply was sufficient to meet customer needs. As an energy delivery company, Eversource does not generate electricity; our role is to safely and reliably deliver power and natural gas to customers, regardless of how or where that energy is produced. That said, bringing additional supply into the region remains essential to long-term reliability and affordability, and our region’s energy supply has certainly been tested recently.
This isn’t about taking a victory lap — it’s simply an acknowledgement that our systems performed as designed when customers needed it most. We know that storms with stronger winds and significant outages are inevitable, but consistent, long-term investment ensures the system is better positioned to withstand more severe weather with minimal disruption. The value proposition for our customers and the state is clear: these strategic, cost-effective investments deliver real benefits to families, businesses and the broader economy. They allow us to collectively weather the worst of New England’s unforgiving weather with minimal disruption to critical services — and to the joy of many in our region and the chagrin of many nationally, share in watching the Patriots win an AFC Championship with the heat on and the power flowing.
Doug Foley is the Eversource president of Massachusetts Electric Operations and Kevin Kelley is the Eversource president of gas distribution.
The article says that Eversource does not produce energy but is the delivery company. Who produces the electricity delivered to Massachusetts?
No one is buying anything from the Eversource Boys. From Com Electric & Gas to Nstar Elec and Gas the present day utility called Eversource Elec and Gas has to be the worst in our city’s customer service history. No one will ever forget at the Pulaski school meeting when they turned their backs on customers and wouldn’t answer any questions about cost increases and than soon after they were in front of the DPU reaching out for more money while bringing in almost a billion dollars in yearly profits. Eversource like the Governor have not been good to southcoast residents.