Central Maine Power Assessing Storm Damage, Clearing Roads

Coastal Maine is major focus, additional crews in the field and en route

AUGUSTA, MAINE — October 17, 2019 — Central Maine Power Co. (CMP), a subsidiary of AVANGRID Inc. (NYSE: AGR), is actively engaged in the restoration effort across its 11,000 square mile service territory with a major focus on the coast which has been more impacted by gusty winds.  The current number of outages is about 180,000.  

On Thursday morning the company is focused on:
  • Working with local Emergency Management officials to clear damage and open roads that may be impacted by downed wires.
  • Using a helicopter and drones to assessing potential transmission system damage in order to ensure the “backbone” of the system is operational.  
  • Restoring power to critical care facilities.
CMP currently has about 100 contract crews assisting in the field and expects nearly 200 more crews to arrive in the state today.

“We expect that the ongoing winds will continue to cause outages today,” said Kevin Elwell, director of Electric Operations for CMP.  “With CMP, AVANGRID and other outside crews, we are working to ensure roads are open, communities are safe and restoration gets underway.” 

CMP is aware that some customers have had difficulties submitting reports of outages through its website and is addressing the issue, potentially caused by high volumes.  Using system technology, the company is aware of, and can actively plan to address, all outages.  
 

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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