CMP News

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

Corporate Communications - corpcomm@cmpco.com 

Release: Immediate - An Energy East Company

CMP makes progress on storm repair

AUGUSTA, Maine, April 13, 2007  Central Maine Power Company crews will continue to work through the night to repair damage from a spring storm that dumped heavy, wet snow on parts of the utility's service area. Snow from Thursday's storm coated tree limbs and branches, bringing them down onto power lines and disrupting service to thousands of customers.

At 4 p.m. Friday, an estimated 6,300 CMP customer accounts were without service. That's down from a peak of about 16,300 at 8 a.m. The utility's Bridgton and Farmington Service Centers  which serve Maine's western foothills and mountains  were hit the hardest, while southern Maine and the Midcoast were spared heavy damage.

"Maine's western mountains and foothills really took the brunt of this storm," said CMP spokesman John Carroll. "We have moved crews and other resources to these areas and brought in outside contractors to speed up restoration."

Following is a breakdown of outages by Service Center. Each Service Center includes the city or town listed and about a dozen surrounding communities. A map showing the service areas is available on the company's outage page on its website at www.cmpco.com.

Bridgton - 5,100

Farmington - 1,000

Lewiston - 100

Skowhegan - 100

"We hope to have power restored to most of these customers by this evening,� said Carroll. "While we're doing our best to restore service as quickly as possible, we expect some customers in parts of Oxford and Franklin Counties could be without service into Saturday." CMP plans to post affected roads and towns early this evening.

Carroll adds that the timing of these late-season storms has kept CMP crews and support personnel busy.

"These two recent storms, along with forecasts for more bad weather Sunday night into Monday, means that crews could be facing another busy weekend," he says. "We'll get this storm cleaned up early tomorrow and just wait to see what the next one brings our way." CMP will issue updates as conditions warrant.

CMP will issue an update, including specifics on towns and roads that may be without service overnight, at approximately 4 p.m. Friday.

About CMP: Central Maine Power, a subsidiary of Energy East Corporation, operates more than 20,000 miles of power lines and other facilities that deliver electricity to 80 percent of Maine's population. Web site: www.cmpco.com.

About Energy East: Energy East Corporation [NYSE: EAS] is a respected super-regional energy services and delivery company that our customers can depend on every day. We are a motivated and skilled team of professionals dedicated to creating shareholder value through our focus on profitable growth, operational excellence and strong customer partnerships. We serve about 3 million customers throughout upstate New York and New England.

— CMP —