Rhode Island Businesses Seek Compensation for Power Outage

Some businesses in downtown Woonsocket say they will file claims for financial losses with National Grid after a transformer problem denied them power for nearly 24 hours last week.

Jeff Polucha, the city’s economic development director, says the affected businesses were notified recently that the company had established a process for filing claims for losses caused by the outage that started at about 9 p.m. Sept. 2 and for some customers lasted until 7 p.m. the next day.

National Grid said about 3,000 customers in Woonsocket and North Smithfield were affected when two underground transformers malfunctioned.

Alda Cooke, the owner of the Main Street Cafe, tells The Call of Woonsocket that she lost about $1,700 in business.