Case Study: National Grid reduces damage rates with Urbint

National Grid reduces damages 22% in 1 year with Urbint

National Grid, a major utility company, faced a plateau in its efforts to reduce damages to its underground gas infrastructure in downstate New York. Despite prior improvements, its damage rate had stalled, and it struggled to efficiently identify the highest-risk excavations from 600,000 annual 811 tickets. The company also needed to target a high rate of damages caused by excavators who failed to call 811 before digging. To address this, National Grid partnered with Urbint and implemented its AI-powered Urbint for Damage Prevention software.

The Urbint solution used AI to analyze historical and external data to assign risk scores to excavation tickets, enabling National Grid to best allocate its field personnel. The software identified that a small percentage of tickets from specific excavators were causing most damages. This allowed for targeted interventions and education. As a result, National Grid achieved a 37% reduction in its damage rate and a 22% reduction in total damages over several years. Urbint also helped the utility better target its 811 awareness campaigns and improve its relationships with excavators.

National Grid