Central Maine Power is Prepared for Storm Forecast to Hit Maine this Weekend

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Augusta, Maine – October 26, 2018 –

Central Maine Power Co. (CMP), a subsidiary of AVANGRID Inc. (NYSE: AGR), has been monitoring weather forecasts and is prepared for a Nor’easter forecast to bring rain, snow, and strong winds to Maine Saturday. CMP’s storm readiness teams have been holding planning meetings, and the company is pre-positioning personnel and equipment – including additional contract crews from Maine and Canada -- to ensure that adequate resources are in place to restore power outages that might occur as a result of the storm. The company is coordinating its preparations with the Maine Emergency Management Agency and county emergency management personnel.

Current forecasts call for precipitation to arrive Saturday morning. While southern and coastal areas are expected to see only rain, wet snow is expected for some parts of CMP’s service area, with up to six inches accumulating in western and mountain regions. Wind gusts of greater than 40 miles per hour are forecast in some coastal communities Saturday night into Sunday morning. Winds may cause tree limbs from outside the utility’s trim zone to come into contact with lines, while snow further north and west could coat tree limbs, bringing them down onto power lines and causing outages.

CMP offers customers the following tips to prepare for the storm and stay safe and comfortable if power outages do occur.

Before a storm strikes:

  • Enroll in the free CMP Alerts service, which provides the latest information about power outages by text message, email, or voice message.
  • Keep battery-operated flashlights and radios on hand, along with supplies of drinking water and non-perishable foods.
  • Make sure that smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices are fully charged.
  • Fill your car’s fuel tank.

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 visit 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.

If you lose service:

  • To report an outage, visit Outage Central at cmpco.com . Customers may also report an outage using CMP’s 24/7 automated phone system at 800.696.1000.
  • Keep sensitive electronic appliances such as computers, TVs and stereos plugged into a surge protector, or unplug them. They could be damaged if a power surge occurs when electricity is restored.
  • Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed. For information about food safety, visit foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/refridg.
  • Never use a stove or oven, or an outdoor grill or heater, as an indoor space heater to stay warm. Only use space heaters intended for indoor use inside or in enclosed spaces, following the manufacturer’s instructions. If you are unable to keep your home safely heated, call Maine 211 for resources.

For customers with generators:

  • Hire a licensed electrician to install permanent generators and transfer switches.
  • Properly ground all portable generators.
  • Carefully read and observe all instructions in your generator’s operating manual.
  • Never run a generator indoors, or even in an open garage.
  • If your carbon monoxide detector goes off – get out of the building immediately and call 911.
  • Do not store fuel indoors or try to refuel a generator while it’s running.
  • Refer to CMP’s web page on generator safety .

Visit  cmpco.com for additional storm safety information.

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 at the Outage Central pages on CMP’s website at cmpco.com

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About AVANGRID
AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) is a leading, sustainable energy company with $31 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 7.1 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, received a Climate Development Project climate score of “A-,” the top score received in the utilities sector, and has been recognized for two consecutive years by Ethical Boardroom as the North American utility with the “best corporate governance practices.” For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.

 

Media Contact:

Gail Rice
207.622.NEWS
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