March 31,2009

National Grid (LSE:NG;NYSE:NGG), one of the nation’s largest electricity and gas delivery companies, today signed a contract with a joint venture company to help deliver part of its U.S. electricity transmission investment program.

The contract with the New Energy Alliance (NEA) is for an initial five years and will deliver approximately $700m of projects, creating over 500 jobs in New England. NEA is a joint venture between Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Inc. and MJ Electric, LLC., a Quanta Services company.

Masheed Saidi, National Grid’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, U.S. Transmission, said, “I’m pleased we have now put pen to paper on this contract to help deliver our network investment program and bring jobs to the area. The size of our investment meant we had to look at new ways to ensure we deliver our investment program safely and efficiently. This contract will make sure the backbone of our electricity transmission network will deliver reliable supplies to our customers for years to come.”

"With the contract finalized, we are ready to continue our work supporting National Grid’s commitment to reliable power delivery throughout New England," said Tony Broccolo, Chairman of NEA. "The New Energy Alliance brings together the extensive experience of Quanta and Balfour Beatty to deliver the comprehensive program management, engineering and construction services required to get the job done."

This contract is one of two that will deliver around $1.7b towards National Grid’s transmission investment program over the next five years. The company, which owns more than 8,600 miles of electricity transmission lines and approximately 1,000 substations across New England and upstate New York, will also be hiring internally to manage the investment program. A separate contract has been agreed with another joint venture - the NorthEast Power Alliance (NEPA) - to work on National Grid’s network primarily in upstate New York.

National Grid is an international energy delivery company. In the U.S., National Grid delivers electricity to approximately 3.3 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island, and manages the electricity network on Long Island under an agreement with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). It is the largest distributor of natural gas in the northeastern U.S., serving approximately 3.4 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island. National Grid also owns over 4,000 megawatts of contracted electricity generation that provides power to over one million LIPA customers – www.nationalgrid.com

M.J. Electric and Quanta Services: Founded in 1959, M. J. Electric, LLC., a Quanta Services company, specializes in electrical construction and maintenance. Quanta is a leading specialized contracting services company delivering infrastructure network solutions for the electric power, natural gas, telecommunications and cable television industries. The company’s comprehensive services include'>ude designing, installing, repairing and maintaining network infrastructure nationwide. With operations throughout North America, Quanta has the manpower, resources and expertise to complete projects that are local, regional, national or international in scope. More information can be found at

Balfour'>www.quantaservices.com.