Union: Overloaded grid ready to

With temperatures already surging into the 80s and a scorching summer on tap, many Massachusetts communities could face a spike in blackouts – and possibly even explosions – from thousands of potentially dangerous overloaded electrical transformers.

Documents obtained by the Herald show more than 12,000 transformers from Attleboro to Ayer are operating at above 200 percent capacity, with some as high as 900 percent over design standards. Union officials, who last night reached an agreement in contract talks with National Grid, say the overloads are pushing the state