Letter to Ken Daly, President of National Grid New York - National Grid

Letter

Dear Mr. Daly,

I write to express my concern about reports of a series of burglaries in Nassau County, New York in which individuals entered the homes of senior citizens and stole thousands of dollars' worth of valuables or cash after falsely identifying themselves as National Grid workers. In each case, individuals claiming to be National Grid employees indicated that they needed to read an indoor meter or inspect the residents' water for a gas leak. These so called "deception burglaries", often targeting senior citizens, have been a recurring problem with National Grid customers for the past two years. Last week alone, there were three of these deception burglaries involving senior citizens in Nassau County. In order to help prevent this from happening again in the region, I ask that National Grid consider developing procedures to improve communication with residents ahead of indoor meter readings or other circumstances that would require a National Grid employee to enter a customer's home.

As you are aware, the first deception burglary took place in Syosset where an 85 year old woman had jewelry taken after a man knocked on the victim's door and identified himself as a National Grid worker investigating a gas explosion. Two other deception burglaries took place in Herricks and Westbury, where a 79 year old woman had jewelry taken and a 66 year old man had cash stolen. Unfortunately, deception burglaries are not isolated incidents for National Grid Customers and there have been many instances of similar crimes in the region over the past two years. In 2012, police identified a rash of nine burglaries in Nassau County where two women dressed as utility workers distracted homeowners while stealing jewelry and cash. In 2013, police took down a band of criminals dressed as National Grid employees for a string of deception burglaries on Staten Island that was also targeted at senior citizens. While I appreciate that National Grid has recently taken some measures to mitigate the risk of these kinds of incidents, such as issuing workers newer, more identifiable uniforms and redesigning the exterior of workers' trucks; deception burglaries continue to occur.

As a response to this recent string of burglaries, I am urging that you consider new procedures to mitigate the risk of future incidents. First, I ask that you alert all customers in Nassau County of this burglary pattern. Second, I urge that you provide advance notifications of meter readings by National Grid employees for those customers with indoor gas meters which require entry into the home. In that notification, it should made clear to the customer the kind of vehicle the National Grid employee will be traveling in, the kind of uniform and ID the employee will have on, a window of time in which the employee may arrive and to the extent possible, the name of the employee that will be tending to the customer. I strongly believe that these notifications should be made 24 hours in advance and should be done through a letter or a phone call, so that access to newer technologies does not pose a disadvantage to senior citizens, the population that is most vulnerable and most impacted by deception burglaries. It is my understanding that National Grid is in the process of working with its customers to relocate indoor gas meters outdoors. As such, establishing this notification process for in home meter readings should not represent a burdensome commitment for National Grid if it is already transitioning to outdoor gas meters.

These measures will provide safeguards against future deception burglaries and ensure that our senior citizens, and others, will be adequately prepared with the information necessary to protect their home from theft. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or my staff.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

U.S. Senator

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