CMP Reduces Outages to Fewer Than 20,000

CMP News

Central Maine Power Company, 83 Edison Drive, Augusta, ME 04336 (207) 622-NEWS 

Corporate Communications - corpcomm@cmpco.com 

 

 

Release: Immediate  

 

Media Contacts: Gail Rice, 207.622.NEWS 

 

 

CMP Reduces Outages to Fewer Than 20,000

 

AUGUSTA, Maine, November 4, 2014 " Central Maine Power Co. (CMP), a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, is making more progress in efforts to repair damage from a winter storm that passed through Maine on Sunday and Monday. At 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, an estimated 19,350 customers remained without service, down from a peak of 84,000 shortly before 8 a.m. Monday. In the mid-coast region of Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, and Waldo counties, the storm knocked out power to nearly 80 percent of the homes and business served by the utility. An estimated 166,000 customers across all 14 counties served by the utility lost service at some point during the storm.

 

"We made some good progress today and cut the outage count by more than 38,000 in the past 24 hours," said CMP spokesperson Gail Rice. "The assessment is done, crews have replaced more than 100 broken poles, and we are on track to restore power to more than 95 percent of Monday's peak outage number by this time Wednesday night."

 

CMP has restored service to all customers in Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Oxford, and York Counties. The company says it will restore service to all customers in Kennebec, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, and Somerset counties by Wednesday evening. CMP has set a goal to finish the restoration to all remaining customers by late Thursday evening with the possible exception of isolated customers in seasonal homes or inaccessible areas of Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, and Waldo counties,

 

The utility is working to keep customers informed of restoration progress. Customers can find information on CMP's mobile-friendly web site at www.cmpco.com. The site now includes restoration estimates by Service Center. Customers can also call CMP's automated outage line " 1.800.696.1000 " if they want information on restoration progress in specific areas. The utility's staff is working to update recordings with the latest restoration information.

 

CMP had 250 two-man line crews in the field on Tuesday, including crews from utilities and contractors from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Canada. In addition to the line crews, the storm response team includes 110 tree crews, supervisory and safety personnel, and mechanics. An estimated 1,000 field workers and an additional 200 support and administrative personnel are working on the recovery effort.

 

Mobile command and supply centers in Wiscasset, Union, and Bucksport are helping with storm recovery, and CMP continues to reassign its crews into areas with the worst damage as they complete work in other parts of the state.

 

Outages by county as of 9:30 p.m.:

Knox: 7,925
Waldo: 4,688
Lincoln: 4,060
Hancock: 1,766
Penobscot: 741
Sagadahoc: 108
Somerset: 31
Kennebec: 29
CMP Total: 19,348
 
Additional information on storm safety and restoration, including a town-by-town listing of outages in the CMP service area with an area map, is on CMP's web site at www.cmpco.com.

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About Central Maine Power Company (CMP): Central Maine Power Company, a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, is Maine's largest electricity transmission and distribution utility. The company delivers about 9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually to more than 600,000 homes and businesses, representing about 80% of Maine's annual consumer sales of electricity. The company has been ranked #1 in customer satisfaction six times by J.D. Power and Associates. For more information, visit www.cmpco.com/.

About Iberdrola USA: Iberdrola USA is the U.S. subsidiary of global energy leader Iberdrola, S.A. The Iberdrola USA companies employ about 5,000 people with operations in 24 states from New England to the West Coast, providing electricity generation, transmission and distribution, natural gas storage and distribution, and energy services. For more information, please visit our website: www.iberdrolausa.com. Follow us on Twitter: @IberdrolaUSA

 

 

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