Central Maine Power Crews Restore Service to 97 Percent of Customers
Service restored to 460,000 homes and businesses after five days of round-the-clock operations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUSTA, Maine November 4, 2017 Central Maine Power Co. (CMP), a subsidiary of AVANGRID Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a diversified energy and utility company, has restored service to more than 460,000 homes and businesses after five days of round-the-clock operations following a devastating windstorm that knocked out power to more than half the homes and businesses in the state. At 10 p.m. Saturday, fewer than 15,000 homes and businesses remained without service. More than 470,000 customers lost power at least once during the event or in following days. At the storms peak on Monday, more than 405,000 customers were without power, surpassing the impact on customers from the 1998 Ice Storm.
On Tuesday, we pledged to restore service for the vast majority of our customers by Saturday night, said Sara J. Burns, president and CEO of Central Maine Power. Thanks to the round-the-clock efforts of our crews and all of those who have helped us, we have restored service to 97 percent of our customers. We will concentrate our line crews and tree crews in the remaining communities with outages until we bring the last customer back on line.
CMP reports that a workforce of more than 3,300 people is working to restore service to the remaining customers on rural roads, coastal peninsulas, and islands across its service territory. Service restoration has also been slowed in areas where flooding or downed trees prevent access, in instances of property damage that requires repairs by homeowners, and to seasonal camps.
We are committed to working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service to all of our customers, said CMP President and CEO Sara Burns.We have reached the point where each repair brings back fewer and fewer customers in some cases multiple crews may work for many hours to restore a single customer's service. Nonetheless, we won't stop until the job is done.
Restoration estimates by town are being updated at CMP Outage with the most current information.
CMP reminds drivers to use caution when approaching utility crews. The working conditions are difficult, and the workers appreciate everyone's consideration for their safety.
Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
About AVANGRID: AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) is a diversified energy and utility company with more than $31 billion in assets and operations in 27 states. The company owns regulated utilities and electricity generation assets through two primary lines of business, Avangrid Networks and Avangrid Renewables. Avangrid Networks is comprised of eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving approximately 3.2 million customers in New York and New England. Avangrid Renewables operates more than 6 gigawatts of owned and controlled renewable generation capacity, primarily through wind and solar, in 22 states across the United States. AVANGRID employs approximately 6,800 people. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.
About CMP: Central Maine Power Company (CMP) is a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR). As Maine's largest electricity transmission and distribution utility, CMP serves 618,000 homes and businesses, representing about 80% of Maine's customer base. J.D. Power and Associates has ranked the company #1 in customer satisfaction seven times. For more information, visit www.cmpco.com.
Media Contact:
Gail Rice
gail.rice@avangrid.com
207.622.NEWS