ADAMS — National Grid says a customer is making changes that should address the phenomenon of flickering LED lights in Adams and Cheshire once and for all.
As late as last week, social media posts on community Facebook pages reported that the flickering, the topic of discussion at an Adams Select Board meeting last month, was still occurring.
“The customer on Friday began attempts to mitigate the issue,” said Bob Kievra, National Grid corporate affairs manager, in an email Monday. “The customer has been cooperating and we will continue to monitor the situation and work to ensure the safe, reliable delivery of electricity to all our customers. If customers continue to experience flickering LED lights, we encourage them to contact National Grid.”
At a meeting last month, National Grid said the flickering is experienced as a result of a “harmonic distortion” caused by increased load on the system coming from a single customer on the Route 8 corridor between Adams and North Adams. They said the problem was originating within the customer's property, and not from National Grid's equipment.
At the same meeting, utility representatives said the customer — whom they did not name out of consideration of the fact they’re cooperating — is installing equipment that will even out its use of power.
To vastly oversimplify: Surges in demand for electricity can cause harmonic distortion in the system — electricity not moving in a steady, predictable way.
Why does that make LED lights flicker? In March, National Grid engineer David LaPlante explained it this way: Traditional incandescent bulbs have a filament that reacts to the voltage being applied. That offers a measure of resistance and makes them less sensitive to voltage fluctuations.
LED lights, however, are powered by a semiconductor that powers up as soon as it has sufficient voltage. But that direct connection — which turns an LED light on faster — also makes the LED light more sensitive to changes in voltage.
“Flickering a lot of times with LEDs can occur when that voltage threshold either drops or when you have dirty power— when you have cheaper LEDs, they might not have a strong tolerance to fluctuations,” LaPlante said.
Before the problem was identified, a number of Adams and Cheshire residents hired electricians, given concerns that their wiring might be faulty or that a loss or surge in power might damage electrical equipment or cause a fire.
National Grid officials said residents can submit a claim reimbursing them for such work at nationalgridus.com/Our-Company/Customer-Claims, by emailing ClaimsDept@nationalgrid.com or by calling 315-428-6536.