National Grid Reports $360k In Refunds Since Newport Gas Outage

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Nearly a month after Aquidneck Island's week-long natural gas outage, National Grid reports it has refunded $360,000 to customers.

According to the Ted Kresse, the company's director of communications in Rhode Island, the majority of reimbursement requests have been for lodging, meals and space heaters.

Since the outage, the company has received more than 1,300 claims for reimbursement.

"We recognize the challenges customers faced during that week and we are processing the requests for reimbursement as expeditiously as possible," Kresse said in an email. "Once a claim has been approved, customers will have a check within 10 business days."

The Facebook group "Gas Outage: What We Know" was created during the outage by community members as a way to aggregate information about outage numbers, food availability and more. Throughout the last week, several members have complained that their requests have not been processed.

Throughout the outage, National Grid encouraged affected customers to save receipts for food and lodging, promising reimbursements for all "reasonable" costs. Due to bitterly cold temperatures, residents were forced to leave their unheated homes for days on end. Vouchers for local hotels were made available by the company for those unable to pay for lodging costs upfront.

The reimbursement form is available on the company's website.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock