Central Maine Power Provides Storm Restoration Estimates

Prolonged outages remain likely for coastal counties

AUGUSTA, MAINE — October 18, 2019 — As of Friday evening, Central Maine Power Co. (CMP), a subsidiary of AVANGRID Inc. (NYSE: AGR), has reduced the total number of customer outages to 70,000 compared to a peak number of outages of approximately 180,000 at noontime Thursday, and to a total number of customers impacted of approximately 219,000.  This evening the company is providing a timeframe for customer restoration by county, still predicting a multi-day outage for coastal customers.

“We know and can appreciate that customers are eager to have more information about when their power will be restored so they can plan,” said Kevin Elwell, director of Electric Operations for CMP.  “Given our progress today on ongoing damage assessment and restoration work, we can at least provide the day that we expect the various counties to be restored.”

The company provides this information with a caution that there may be individual or more challenging repair situations that could fall outside the listed timeframe. CMP will also offer revised, more specific restoration times as progress is made.

County Day of Estimated Restoration
Androscoggin Saturday
Cumberland Monday
Franklin Sunday
Hancock Complete
Kennebec Saturday
Knox Sunday
Lincoln Monday
Oxford Sunday
Penobscot Sunday
Piscataquis Complete
Sagadahoc Monday
Somerset Saturday
Waldo Sunday
York Saturday

 

In addition to CMP’s 100 crews restoring power, the company has approximately 450 additional line crews – both contractors and from other AVANGRID companies – and 120 tree crews in the field as well.  

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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