Western New York residents – You could get up to a $540 reimbursement from New York State for food lost during the Christmas blizzard’s power outage.

If you are one of the thousands of people who lost power during the blizzard that hit Western New York over Christmas, and you lost it for over 72 consecutive hours, you are entitled to receive compensation from National Grid or NYSEG for food and prescription medicine spoilage due to a new state law.

If this is you, be sure to act fast! The deadline to file is two weeks from when you hit the consecutive 72-hour mark without power with the City of Buffalo already declaring that the deadline to file is Tuesday, January 10.

There are four options to file a claim:

  1. Online | Submit this online Food and Prescription Medication Spoilage Claim Form.
  2.  Email | Download this PDF version of the Food and Prescription Medication Spoilage Claim Form, gather your supporting documentation, and email to foodloss@nationalgrid.com.
  3. Mail | Mail this PDF of the Food and Prescription Medication Spoilage Claim Form to the following address:
    NY Food Spoilage Claims
    1125 Broadway
    Albany, NY 12204
  4. Phone | Call 315.428.3370

The maximum reimbursement of food with proof of loss is $540. National Grid says that proof of loss includes, “verifiable evidence of the loss, such as photographs accompanied with itemized receipts of the food or prescription medication that has been spoiled.”

Without an itemized list and proof of loss, the maximum reimbursement is $235.

Prescription medicine will be reimbursed for the total cost that you paid for it.

In addition to filing a claim, if you lost power for 72 consecutive hours in the blizzard, your power company will automatically give you a bill credit of $25 for every additional 24 hours you were still without power.