How does Eversource approach web accessibility?

Eversource is committed to making our website content accessible. Content includes natural information such as text, images and sounds as well as code or markup that defines the page structure and presentation. 

Accessibility considers a range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning and neurological disabilities, but may not address every user’s need.  

The steps we take

Using design principles and accessibility tools, we make commercially reasonable efforts to make our web content accessible based on WCAG 2.1 guidelines for A or AA compliance across our website.

We communicate with our customers to understand their expectations when using our website and to ensure content is easy to find and accessible. To do this, we run usability tests to learn how to best organize our content.

We also provide customer feedback opportunities through web surveys and our voice-of-the-customer group.

Website accessibility practices

Our accessibility efforts involve content creators, designers and developers and include structuring our content and design rules so that all newly designed pages follow the WCAG 2.1 guidelines. Our efforts include, but are not limited to:

• Designing with color contrast rules so that the foreground and background are sufficiently strong
• Building our web pages to be responsive so that the design is usable under different zoom settings and text sizes according to user preference and device settings
• Adding alternative text (alt text) to all non-decorative images so if a customer cannot see the image, they can hear the alt text (with a screen reader) to understand the context
• Clearly linking text that clues the user as to where they will land next, where practicable
• Using headings to represent the logical outline of the content
• Adjusting the Cascading Styling Sheets (CSS), not the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) structure, to change headline styling without affecting accessibility
• Using tables for laying out tabular information and having proper headings and summaries
• Defining list items as HTML bulleted lists to present items of equal status or value and as numbered lists if a particular order to the items is appropriate
• Making our website content accessible and navigable, whether by mouse, keyboard or both.

Additionally, we promote the use of 711 Telecommunications Relay Service on our Contact Us page for persons who are hearing or speech impaired.

Additional Resources

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is your best resource for more information about web accessibility.

Your website browser and device settings have additional accessibility options. The following links are provided as a courtesy to assist you and may be updated by these providers from time to time.

• Microsoft Edge
• Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Apple Products
• Microsoft Products