Salina, NY – National Grid did not notify code enforcement officers when it cut off power to a town of Salina house where a girl died Friday because doing so would have violated its customer confidentiality rules, company officials said today.
A company official also revealed today the utility shut off service to the house because of an unpaid bill.
Salina Town Supervisor Mark Nicotra said Saturday that if the town knew the house at 106 Carlton Drive had no electricity, code enforcement officials would have investigated and almost certainly declared the house uninhabitable.
But Wendy Ladd, a National Grid spokeswoman, said today the utility never alerts towns when it cuts off power to a home. “We can’t let the public or town know, because it is against confidentiality,” she said.
The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office said the homeowner, Glen Collins, returned home Friday morning to find his children unresponsive. Emergency crews rushed 6-year-old Gabriella Collins and 14-year-old Jaidon Collins to the hospital where Gabriella was pronounced dead. Jaidon was still listed in critical condition today at Upstate University Hospital. Carbon monoxide poisoning is suspected.
Town code enforcement officials found a portable generator in the basement and high levels of carbon monoxide throughout the house.
National Grid shut off power to the house in mid-August.
Virginia Limmiatis, another National Grid official, said today electric service to the house was suspended because the bill was unpaid. In addition, there was a safety issue. The neutral ground wire, which is the homeowner’s responsibility to maintain, needed to be repaired, she said. The repair had to be done by an electrician and then pass inspection. That repair was never done, she said. Even if the bill had been paid, National Grid could not turn the power back on until that safety issue was corrected, she said.
“This is a tragedy we all feel very badly about,” Limmiatis said. “We do not just arbitrarily suspend a customer’s service,” she said.
Before it cuts off service, National Grid contacts customers by phone, mail and by leaving notices on the door knob of their homes. Limmiatis said the utility also works with customers who are behind on their billls to get them on payment plans so they can avoid shut-offs.