Unitil Corporation, (Unitil.com), a provider of natural gas and electricity to customers in New England, continues to restore power and anticipates that the majority of customers will be back online by 6 p.m. on Christmas Day with the exception of customers in isolated pockets that experienced extensive damage and those with individual service issues.
As of 1:45 p.m., approximately 3,650 Unitil customers are without power. Of those who still have no power, approximately 2,650 customers are in New Hampshire’s greater Concord region, just under 1,000 are in the Seacoast region, and only a few are without power in Massachusetts.
While there were some 22,000 customers without power at the peak of the storm early Friday evening, as many as 42,000 have been impacted since outages began during the first burst of wind that affected the area Friday morning.
“This is an important time of year for families in our service territories and our crews are moving as quickly as they can to get the power back on for those who are planning their holiday gatherings,” said Unitil Media Relations Manager Alec O’Meara. “This was a very complex storm system that came in two rounds of strong winds - one in the morning and the second during the early evening. Some customers lost power in the morning, were relieved when it was restored, but then experienced another outage later in the day.” Damage from the two bursts of wind and rain included numerous downed trees and wires and broken poles. Crews continue to assess the damage and will provide town by town estimated restoration times for all customers on the online outage map at unitil.com when available. All system and New Hampshire regional emergency operation centers remain open in order to best coordinate response efforts.
Customers who are still without power and may need shelter should contact their local town or city for sheltering and warming center information.
If using a generator at your home, please note that an improperly installed or positioned generator can cause exhaust, containing deadly carbon monoxide, to accumulate in your dwelling. Installing a carbon monoxide detector can help detect this odorless and colorless gas before it becomes a dangerous concern. In addition, such generators can “backfeed” electricity into the distribution lines and electrical equipment, seriously injuring or electrocuting a line worker or anyone who may touch a now-energized line thought to be dead. More important safety messages on generator usage can be found online at Unitil.com.
Unitil will be communicating throughout the event through Public Service Announcements (PSAs), our website, our customer call center and through the media. We also encourage customers to follow along with our storm updates via Facebook, our Twitter feed (@Unitil) and we will be providing real-time outage information online at unitil.com/map.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR MEDIA: Unitil asks that when reporting outage information, outlets time stamp the information. Outage numbers change hourly and we wish to make sure the information customers receive is consistent and understandable. Re-Tweets and re-posting of old information without referencing a time can create confusion.
Customers experiencing outages should call 1-888-301-7700.
You can also report outages online at unitil.com/report-outage.
