Who is National Grid USA? Who is National Grid Transco? [[Outage] vanity]

National Grid Transco plc is an international energy delivery business, whose principal activities are in the regulated electricity and gas industries.

We are the largest investor-owned utility in the UK, where we own and operate the high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales, and Britain's natural gas transportation system. We are one of the top ten electricity companies in the US, with the largest electricity transmission and distribution network in the New England/New York region, and also operate a gas distribution network in New York. Other electricity interests include interconnectors in the UK, US and Australia, and joint venture transmission networks in Argentina and Zambia.

http://www.nationalgridus.com/operations/index.shtml

National Grid's core business in the U.S. is the transmission and distribution of electricity. National Grid's subsidiaries own, operate, and maintain roughly 84,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines (overhead and underground) in New England and New York.

Our transmission and distribution businesses are efficiently and effectively operated to assure a reliable, constant, high-quality supply of power to our customers.

National Grid's merger with Niagara Mohawk in 2002 added natural gas delivery to our business activities.

In addition to our businesses of electricity and natural gas delivery, which are regulated by state and federal governments, we have a subsidiary in the U.S. that is engaged in the non-rate-regulated business of construction and leasing of telecommunications infrastructure.

National Grid Group Plc ADS (NGG)
Industry: Electric Utilities
Sector: Utilities

Niagara Mohawk Restores Power to Customers Across State

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Aug 15, 2003 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Niagara Mohawk, a
National Grid company, announced late Thursday evening that power has been
restored to customers across its service area who were affected by the major
outage that swept the Northeastern U.S. earlier in the day. At the height of the
outage, approximately 1.25 million of the company's 1.5 million electricity
customers were without power.
Niagara Mohawk will continue to work with government officials, regulators and
other utilities in gathering and analyzing data so that the root cause of the
outages can be determined.

In the meantime, the company continues to ask its customers to reduce all
unnecessary electricity usage so that adequate electricity supply can be
preserved across the state.

Steps that residential customers can take are:
-- Use fans instead of air conditioners to cool homes.
-- If fans are not an option, set air conditioners at higher
temperatures.
-- Close shades and blinds to keep homes cooler.
-- Limit use of major appliances such as electric stoves, dishwashers,
and clothes dryers.
-- Turn off unnecessary lights.

Niagara Mohawk, a National Grid company, provides electric service to
approximately 1.5 million customers and natural gas service to approximately
540,000 customers in upstate New York. The company is based in Syracuse. Its
parent company also has electricity distribution operations in New England.

SOURCE Niagara Mohawk

CONTACT: Alberto Bianchetti, +1-315-428-6932, or Stephen Brady,
+1-716-831-7744, or Kerry Burns, +1-315-428-5266, all of Niagara Mohawk, after
hours, +1-315-428-3151

URL: prnewswire

National Grid Transco

Shares in the company started trading on the London and New York Stock Exchanges 21st October 2002 following completion of the merger of equals between Lattice Group plc and National Grid Group plc when National Grid Group plc was renamed National Grid Transco plc.
The merger was announced on 22 April 2002 and was subsequently approved by both Lattice and National Grid shareholders at separate meetings in July 2002. The Lattice Scheme of Arrangement was approved by the Court and substantially all other regulatory approvals, both in the UK and US, were received before the merger completed.
If you wish to visit the new National Grid Transco plc website and its businesses, you will be re-directed automatically or please click here.
http://www.ngtgroup.com

thanks for the info. I did a google search on Alberto Bianchetti, who was mentioned in your post

Page 1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
National Grid
Niagara Mohawk
Jackie Barry
Alberto Bianchetti
508-389-3298
315-428-6932

SEC APPROVES NATIONAL GRID-NIAGARA MOHAWK MERGER

Merger Expected to Close on January 31, 2002;
Shareholder Election Deadline is January 24, 2002
Westborough, MA and Syracuse, NY, Jan. 16, 2002 -- The U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) today approved the merger between National Grid Group
plc (LSE:NGG and NYSE:NGG) and Niagara Mohawk Holdings Inc. (NYSE:NMK).
This was the final regulatory approval required to complete the transaction. The
companies expect to close the merger on January 31, 2002.
In accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement, Niagara Mohawk
shareholders will receive consideration of $18.89 for each share of Niagara Mohawk
common stock held, valuing the equity of Niagara Mohawk at $3.0 billion. The per share
consideration was determined by the average U.S. dollar price of five National Grid
Ordinary shares being $32.22 as calculated from 20 trading days randomly selected from
the 40 consecutive trading day period November 13, 2001 to
January 10, 2002. As the average price is below the bottom of the range of $32.50 to
$51.00 specified in the Merger Agreement, the base $19.00 consideration per Niagara
Mohawk share has been reduced by two-thirds of the percentage decrease below $32.50.
Niagara Mohawk shareholders can elect to receive their consideration in the form
of $18.89 cash per share, 0.5863 National Grid American Depositary Shares per share, or
a combination of both.
- more -

Page 2
SEC Approves National Grid-Niagara Mohawk Merger/2
The Merger Agreement states that the total amount of cash payable to Niagara
Mohawk shareholders will be $1.015 billion, but National Grid will increase this amount
to 50 per cent of the total consideration, if it receives sufficient cash elections. National
Grid will, so far as possible, satisfy Niagara Mohawk shareholders’ elections. However,
to the extent that they cannot be satisfied in full they will be scaled down on a pro rata
basis.
The deadline for Niagara Mohawk shareholders to return their forms of election to
the Exchange Agent, The Bank of New York, is 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard time on
January 24, 2002. Election materials and delivery instructions were mailed to Niagara
Mohawk shareholders on December 27, 2001. Niagara Mohawk shareholders who did
not receive that mailing should contact the information agent for this transaction, Mellon
Investor Services, at (800) 953-2703 as soon as possible. Mailing and delivery
instructions are also available on the companies’ websites at www.nationalgrid.com and
www.niagaramohawk.com.
On November 28, the New York Public Service Commission approved a merger
plan, effective upon closure, that calls for an average electricity delivery rate reduction of
eight percent for Niagara Mohawk residential customers, which translates to estimated
savings of five percent on residential customers’ total bills. The plan also calls for price-
stabilized electricity commodity service for residential and small commercial customers
for several years
,
economic development initiatives, extension of an existing gas rate
freeze, and a host of other benefits for the company’s customers and the upstate New
York region.
National Grid Group plc is an international, U.K.-based company that builds,
owns and manages electricity and telecommunications networks. Its U.S. operations
include four New England electricity distribution companies that serve a total of
approximately 1.7 million customers, and a substantial transmission business.
Niagara Mohawk Holdings, Inc. is an investor-owned energy services company that
provides electricity to more than 1.5 million customers across 24,000 square miles of
upstate New York. The company also delivers natural gas to more than 540,000
customers over 4,500 square miles of eastern, central and northern New York

http://www.ngtgroup.com/businesses/mn_ngusa.html

From below:
National Grid operates high-voltage direct current transmission lines and alternating current/direct current terminals for the Hydro-Quebec and New England transmission interconnection.

National Grid USA is one of the ten largest electric utilities (by customers) in the US. Its electricity delivery network includes 12,000 miles of transmission lines and 72,000 miles of distribution lines. National Grid has the largest transmission and distribution network in the New York/New England region.

Electricity distribution

National Grid has five US electricity distribution companies that serve approximately 3.2 million customers in the states of New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire:

* Niagara Mohawk serves more than 1.5 million customers in 669 communities in upstate New York
* Massachusetts Electric serves approximately 1.2 million customers in 168 Massachusetts communities
* Narragansett Electric serves approximately 465,000 customers in 38 Rhode Island communities
* Granite State Electric serves more than 38,000 customers in 21 New Hampshire communities
* Nantucket Electric serves more than 10,000 customers on the island community of Nantucket, 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Natural gas distribution

Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation delivers natural gas to more than 540,000 customers in 197 communities in upstate New York.

Electricity transmission

National Grid Transmission USA represents the combined electricity transmission interests of the National Grid USA subsidiaries, including those listed below:

* Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation owns and operates approximately 9,000 miles of transmission lines and other transmission facilities in upstate New York
* New England Power Company owns and/or operates approximately 3,000 miles of transmission lines and other transmission facilities in Massachusetts, Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont
* National Grid Transmission Services Corporation provides consulting, engineering, and operations support services to transmission customers

Interconnectors

National Grid operates high-voltage direct current transmission lines and alternating current/direct current terminals for the Hydro-Quebec and New England transmission interconnection.

National Grid USA
25 Research Drive
Westborough
Massachusetts 01582
USA
Telephone: +1 (508) 389 2000
Facsimile: +1 (508) 389 2605

Local utility has ties to origin of blackouts
By Craig M. Douglas / CNC Staff Writer
Friday, August 15, 2003

Yesterday's widespread blackouts stretching from New York to the Great Lakes and parts of Canada originated in a power system owned by Westborough-based National Grid USA.

Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., based in Syracuse, N.Y., was one of several energy providers knocked out of service yesterday after a massive power surge crippled power grids around New York City, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto and Ottawa and parts of Massachusetts. Preliminary reports from affected areas tied the blackout's origins to the Mohawk-Niagara line.

In January 2002, National Grid USA acquired Niagara Mohawk, which provides electricity to nearly 1.5 million customers in upstate New York, for around $3 billion.

A National Grid USA spokeswoman said the company was investigating the matter and was not prepared to issue a comment.

National Grid USA, a subsidiary of London-based National Grid Transco, has the largest power-supply network -- 12,000 miles of transmission lines and 72,000 miles of distribution lines -- in the New England and New York region.

National Grid, which also owns Massachusetts Electric covering the central and western parts of the state, serves about 1.7 million customers in New England alone.

The blackouts conjured memories of the "Great Northeast Blackout" of 1965, when the failure of a backup power grid in Ontario turned the lights out on nearly 30 million people in eight U.S. states, including Massachusetts, and northeastern Canada. Many people, mostly in New York City, went without power for nearly 13 hours.

http://www.nationalgridus.com/news_information/news_releases/news_releases_container/nr20030716.shtml

NIAGARA MOHAWK DECLARES PREFERRED STOCK DIVIDENDS

SYRACUSE, N.Y., July 16, 2003 - —Niagara Mohawk, a National Grid company (NYSE: NGG), announced that the Board of Directors of Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. has declared dividends at the following rates for all series of its preferred stock.

.85% of $100 par value on the 3.40% Series

.90% of $100 par value on the 3.60% Series

.975% of $100 par value on the 3.90% Series

1.025% of $100 par value on the 4.10% Series

1.2125% of $100 par value on the 4.85% Series

1.3125% of $100 par value on the 5.25% Series

$0.863125 per share on the $25 par value Series D

Preferred stock dividends are payable Sept. 30, 2003 to holders of record Sept. 8, 2003.

Niagara Mohawk, a National Grid company, provides electric service to approximately 1.5 million customers and natural gas service to approximately 540,000 customers in upstate New York. The company is based in Syracuse. Its parent company also has electricity distribution operations in New England. National Grid is an international, U.K.-based company that builds, owns and manages electricity and telecommunications networks.

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