Central Maine Power Responding to Thanksgiving Day Outages

AUGUSTA, Maine — November 28, 2019 — Central Maine Power Co. (CMP), is working Thursday to restore power outages caused by wet, heavy snow in Western Maine and by gusty winds in Southern and Coastal parts of the state. 

In addition to CMP crews, the company has approximately 70 contractor crews, including 50 from Canada, either actively working or en route to Maine to provide restoration support.

“Our crews and contractors are working with municipal road maintenance staff and Emergency Management officials to identify priorities for plowing and downed wire and debris clearing,” said Kevin Elwell, director, Electric Distribution for CMP. “We understand the demands of the holiday and ask customers to stay clear of work zones and allow our line crews to focus on getting power restored safely and as quickly as possible.”   

Forecasts call for southern and coastal winds to diminish this afternoon.

CMP has made restoration progress but is still assessing damage in some areas, and advises that a number of customers will not have power restored until Friday. Customers may get updates as they are available by calling customer service: 800.696.1000.

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.

If you lose service

  • To report an outage, visit Outage Central . 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 www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/refridg_food.html. 
  • 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 .

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
1.833.MEDIA.55 (833.633.4255) (after hours)

 

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