Central Maine Power Advises Coastal Customers to Expect Lengthy Outage

Coastal Counties experienced significant damage, customers should plan ahead

AUGUSTA, MAINE — October 17, 2019 — 

Central Maine Power Co. (CMP), a subsidiary of AVANGRID Inc. (NYSE: AGR), is advising coastal customers in York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo counties to prepare for a multi-day power outage.  The company has spent all of Thursday assessing the extent of system damage and wants customers in these areas to be prepared and to be able to plan for a potentially lengthy outage. The peak number of outages Thursday was approximately 180,000.

“We have heard loud and clear from our customers during storms that they simply want to know what to expect so they can plan,” said Doug Herling, President and CEO.  “Once we had a thorough understanding of the extent of the damage this afternoon we wanted to advise customers as soon as possible that they may be without power for several days so they can make necessary arrangements.”

Other inland areas within the company’s service territory may experience ongoing outages, but the coast has seen the most damage and will likely experience the lengthiest time without power. Approximately 145,000 customers remained without power Thursday afternoon.  

CMP is working around the clock in restoration efforts.  In addition to the nearly 100 CMP crews, the company is being assisted by 100 contract crews and expects to have at least 200 additional crews from out of state join the effort early Friday.  CMP remains in contact with other additional resources to deploy if needed.

Restoration priorities:

  • CMP follows an orderly process when restoring service that emphasizes safety and seeks to make effective use of resources.  CMP’s immediate concern after a storm is public safety. Restoration teams work with towns and the state to de-energize downed lines, clear roads and restore previously identified critical facilities such as hospitals and shelters.
  • Next, CMP focuses on assessing damage and repairing the backbone of the electrical system: substations, transmission lines, circuits and primary lines. Crews focus on locations where they can restore large numbers of customers at once.
  • Then, crews restore equipment and lines that serve smaller groups of customers.
  • Finally, crews focus on restoring remaining service lines to individual homes and buildings until every customer has service. This phase may begin while higher-priority work is already underway.

Additional information on storm safety and restoration, including a town-by-town listing of outages in the CMP service area with an area map, can be found on CMP’s web site at  http://www.cmpco.com/Outages/ .

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About CMP: Central Maine Power Company (CMP), a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc., is Maine’s largest electricity transmission and distribution utility. Established in 1899 and based in Augusta, Maine, CMP serves approximately 624,000 customers across 346 communities in central and southern Maine. It operates approximately 23,500 miles of distribution lines and 2,900 miles of transmission lines. Over the last decade, the company has invested approximately $2.6 billion in Maine system infrastructure. In 2019, CMP was named Large Business of the Year by the Kennebec Valley United Way. For more information, visit www.cmpco.com.

About AVANGRID: AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) is a leading, sustainable energy company with approximately $33 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states. AVANGRID has two primary lines of business: Avangrid Networks and Avangrid Renewables. Avangrid Networks owns eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving 3.2 million customers in New York and New England. Avangrid Renewables owns and operates 7.2 gigawatts of electricity capacity, primarily through wind power, with a presence in 22 states across the United States. AVANGRID employs approximately 6,500 people. AVANGRID supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2019 by the Ethisphere Institute. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.

Media Contact:
Catharine Hartnett
Catharine.Hartnett@avangrid.com
207.629.1555 (office)
207.458.3510 (cell)

 

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