To the Editor:

“Hurricane” Irene has reinforced a belief that I have expressed many times before on this page. National Grid is either unable or ill equipped to deal with a crisis in the delivery of electricity to Rhode Island consumers.
Once electrical service is restored to all Rhode Islanders, our public officials must give attention to the obvious weaknesses at National Grid and their impact on the automotive industry’s focus upon a radical conversion from traditional combustible engine motor vehicles to electric-powered (EV) vehicles, which are completely dependent upon electricity for their operation.
Query: How could National Grid have responded to the “Irene crisis” if just one-third of all Rhode Island automobiles were electric-powered?
National Grid seems to be extraordinarily skilled in the pursuit of shutoff notices to Rhode Islanders who are victims of our economy’s Great Recession but significantly lacking in the core areas of operation of an electric utility granted a legal monopoly.

Fred E. Joslyn Jr.
Cranston