Central Maine Power Responding to Wind Impacts

Company is focused on clearing roads and debris

AUGUSTA, Maine— November 1, 2019 — Central Maine Power Co. (CMP), a subsidiary of AVANGRID Inc. (NYSE: AGR), has been out in local communities since before dawn, working with local emergency management officials to clear roads and debris to enable safe travel, particularly for first responders. Current forecasts call for the potential of 40-50 mph gusts through the day Friday, which could cause tree limbs to continue to fall on lines and utility poles causing additional outages.

As of mid-day Friday, the company is reporting over 80,000 outages across the service area, but cautions that number could go up if strong wind gusts persist.

Prior to the wind hitting the state late Thursday night, CMP retained nearly 125 contractor crews to work with the 97 CMP employee line crews for initial response. There are 60 crews joining the restoration effort from Canada.

“Unlike the recent Nor’easter which was primarily a coastal event, this wind has caused outages across the CMP service territory,” said Kevin Elwell, director of Electric Distribution for CMP.  “We had prepositioned crews appropriately to be able to address the need for road clearing before dawn.”

 

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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