Crew Effort and Smart Technology Bring Swift Restoration to more than 57,000 Homes

Crews have been working tirelessly since 1 a.m. Friday. Smart technology restored 8,000 customers in two minutes as power was remotely directed to flow around damage.

Augusta, ME — March 8, 2025 – Central Maine Power (CMP), a subsidiary of Avangrid Inc., has now restored power to more than 57,000 customers following the onset of persistent high winds across Maine.

As soon as these winds began just after 1:00 a.m. on Friday, extra crews from all twelve CMP service centers were immediately deployed to repair damage in the dark. So far, they have restored power to 96% of those impacted by these winds, which neared 60mph. Work has continued non-stop, as quickly and safely as possible.

Windy conditions are expected again through the day Saturday. CMP crews are not permitted to raise bucket truck arms when winds exceed 30 mph.

“Our women and men continue to do extraordinary work at all hours of the day and night to quickly restore power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses,” said Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra. “I’m incredibly proud of their quick work and their tireless commitment to their community.”

Smart technology installed on CMP’s grid as part of long-term work to improve reliability has also shown immense benefit during the utility’s response to this weather and the resulting tree damage. For example, more than 8,300 CMP customers in Oxford, Mechanic Falls, Auburn and other communities had power restored in two minutes by a “smart device” called an automated recloser that was operated remotely by staff in CMP’s Energy Control Center (ECC).

New technology also helped CMP rapidly determine the cause and location of this outage. Overnight Friday into Saturday, crews used drones equipped with lights to locate a downed tree and a car cover or tarp. Both caused damage after being blown into a transmission line feeding these customers.

“When extreme weather hits, our crews work around the clock and we use all the newest tools we have available to get results like these for thousands and thousands of our customers,” said Eric Sutton, Vice President of Electric Operations for CMP. “The benefits of restoration process improvements, technology and grid investments clearly show in moments like this weekend.”

Having smart technology improve response times in this way is crucial as Maine faces stronger, more frequent storms. CMP’s goal is to make the grid stronger, increasing reliability so that Maine, as the most forested state in the country, is prepared for extreme weather and outages are reduced.

In addition, CMP is focused on every-day reliability improvements across the regions we serve, including:

Replacing wooden transmission poles with ones made of steel
Using covered “tree wire” on projects to minimize contact from branches and limbs
Installing fiberglass crossarms to utility poles that are less susceptible to moisture
Utilizing enhanced tree trimming techniques to better protect the grid from tree damage

In every storm, CMP assists local emergency management agencies should road closures occur.

Customers can report outages quickly and easily, and track restoration times, using the CMP mobile app. Download from the App Store or text APP to 267.898 for a downloadable link. Customers may also enroll in Outage Alerts to stay informed in the event they lose power.

CMP reminds customers to remember the following if they have lost power: