Working a client in Providence with National Grid Rhode Island and another in Syracuse with National Grid New York. Same parent company, completely different LOA processes. Rhode Island accepted my standard LOA by email in about a week. New York wants their specific form with PSC regulatory language and only accepts it by mail. Is there any way to streamline when you're dealing with the same utility brand across state lines?
National Grid in New England vs National Grid in New York — different LOA processes
Unfortunately no. National Grid operates as separate regulated entities in each state — National Grid USA is the parent but the operating companies are distinct legal entities subject to different state PUC regulations. Same thing with Eversource in Connecticut vs Massachusetts vs New Hampshire. Three different operating companies, three different LOA requirements. I keep a separate template for each state-utility combination.
Confirmed — I work both NY and Massachusetts Grid accounts and they're different worlds. Massachusetts is actually the easiest of the three. My advice is to call the commercial accounts team in each state before submitting anything. Five minutes on the phone can save you weeks of rejected LOAs and resubmissions.
Good to know it's not just me. Built separate templates for Grid-RI, Grid-NY, and Grid-MA. The NY one took three tries to get right but now it goes through smoothly every time. Adding this to my state-by-state utility database.