AG seeks probe of Nat’l Grid lockout

Attorney General Maura Healey is calling on regulators to investigate alleged pipeline safety violations, service quality issues and potential added costs of National Grid’s lockout of 1,250 United Steel Workers since late June.

In a letter sent yesterday to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities demanding the investigation and public hearings, Healey’s office says oversight is needed into how the company is getting by with its workforce on the sidelines.

“As the lockout continues into its third month, it appears increasingly unlikely that replacement workers and managers can continue to take on these additional tasks and shifts without significant disruption,” Rebecca L. Tepper, assistant attorney general in charge of energy and telecommunications, wrote in the letter.

The letter asks for an investigation into whether state and federal regulations are being followed and for a thorough look at the more than 50 safety complaints filed by the union since the lockout started June 25.

The complaints include equipment not being used properly, lax oversight, improperly installed equipment, safety equipment problems and other potential violations of company protocol or safety laws.

Healey’s office also wants to know whether customers are paying for services in their rates that aren’t being provided during the lockout, be they safety inspections, leak surveys, gas main replacements or customer service hookups.

And more, the office is asking for an accounting of any costs (or savings) for the company during the lockout and an answer for whether ratepayers or shareholders will get the bill (or check).

Regulators, the AG’s office wrote, “should put the Company on notice that shareholders, not ratepayers, will pay any incremental costs of the lockout.”

National Grid spokeswoman Christine Milligan says the company has completed 18,000 jobs in the 12 weeks of the lockout without incident. Also the company said it was not planning to pass along “any unreasonable” costs associated with the lockout to ratepayers.

“We are in frequent contact with the DPU, apprising the agency of our safety procedures, addressing any concerns and reviewing our safety compliance,” Milligan says. “Just as we would with any workforce — union or otherwise — we take appropriate action should any violations be found. We are fully confident in the work that our continuation workforce has performed and will continue to perform until this situation is resolved.”