[September 03, 2015]

National Grid, WeatherBug Receive 2015 Computerworld Data+ Editor's Choice Award

National Grid, a leading electricity and natural gas company, and Earth Networks, the operator of the world's largest weather monitoring network and the parent company of WeatherBug (News - Alert), today announced that its joint severe weather forecast data modeling project has been honored with the 2015 Computerworld Data+ Editors' Choice Award. The prestigious honor recognizes innovative big data initiatives that have delivered significant business value.

National Grid connects nearly 7 million customers to vital energy sources. To help mitigate the effects of severe weather and keep the power on in communities across its service territory in upstate New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, National Grid undertook an innovative project, in collaboration with MIT (News - Alert), to combine real-time local weather data, advanced weather forecasting models, and outage modeling technology in order to help mitigate the effects of severe weather and keep the power on in communities across its service territory.

"ENcast has enabled National Grid to improve outage forecasting by 50% over the standard guidance available from the National Weather Service. This improvement was due directly to the increased density and granularity of WeatherBug's Weather Station data," said Jorge Calzada, Director, Business Planning & Performance, National Grid. "This groundbreaking collaboration, which included MIT, has drastically improved our ability to predict, monitor and respond to outages in a timely and efficient manner; we are thrilled to be honored for this achievement."

"We applaud National Grid for its innovative efforts to improve the quality of service and safety for its customers," said Bob Marshall, chief executive officer, Earth Networks. "By identifying gaps in existing weather coverage and coordinating the installation of WeatherBug weather stations across its territory, National Grid was able collect hyper-local, real-time weather data and feed it into ENcast, our advanced weather forecasting system, to generate accurate and reliable 'nowcasts' and forecasts at a very granular level."

The technical expertise for this project came from existing talent from several units within National Grid, including Analytics and Metrics and Customer Strategy and Environmental, as well as Earth Networks' engineering teams.

"We are pleased to announce the 2015 Computerworld Data+ Editors' Choice Awards honorees," said Scot Finnie, editor in chief, Computerworld. "This year's honorees have used analytics to solve vexing business and humanitarian problems. They are taking data analytics to the next level - mining data to make fast buiness decisions, measure risk, create efficiencies and much more."

The Data+ Editors' Choice Awards honorees and their achievements will be highlighted in a special September feature on Computerworld.com.

About Computerworld's Data+ Editor's Choice Awards

The Computerworld Data+ Editors' Choice awards program was launched in 2013 by IDG's Computerworld editorial team to recognize organizations that are mining big data to analyze and predict business trends and monetize this information. Organizations were asked to complete questionnaires detailing their big data projects, which were then reviewed by the Computerworld editorial team. From those questionnaires, honorees were selected for their ability to achieve business benefits through big data, and demonstrate real-world results and best practices. View the 2015 winners on Computerworld.com.

About National Grid

National Grid (LSE: NG; NYSE: NGG) is an electricity and natural gas delivery company that connects nearly 7 million customers to vital energy sources through its networks in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It is the largest distributor of natural gas in the Northeast. National Grid also operates the systems that deliver gas and electricity across Great Britain. Through its U.S. Connect21 strategy, National Grid is transforming its electricity and natural gas networks to support the 21st century digital economy with smarter, cleaner, and more resilient energy solutions. Connect21 is vital to our communities' long-term economic and environmental health and aligns with regulatory initiatives in New York (REV: Reforming the Energy Vision) and Massachusetts (Grid Modernization). For more information please visit our website, or our Connecting website, follow us on Twitter, watch us on YouTube, friend us on Facebook, find our photos on Instagram.

About Earth Networks: Powering WeatherBug & WeatherBug Home

For 20 years, we have been Taking the Pulse (News - Alert) of the Planet® using the world's largest weather, lightning and greenhouse gas monitoring networks. Our sensors across the planet keep consumers, businesses, and governments informed, updated and alerted. Our popular WeatherBug® brand provides neighborhood-level weather, superior forecasts and advanced severe weather alerts to millions. Our WeatherBug Home offering taps big weather and connected home data for improved energy efficiency and comfort. Enterprises such as schools, airports, professional sports teams, utilities and government agencies rely on our early warning solutions to safeguard lives, prepare for weather events, and optimize operations. Know Before®.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150903005368/en/

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