Unitil Corporation, a provider of electricity and natural gas to customers in New England, made significant progress in restoring power overnight to customers impacted by this week’s severe spring nor’easter.
As of 6 a.m. approximately 7,037 Unitil customers were without power, down from a system-wide peak of 21,888 Thursday morning and a total of more than 33,600 customers impacted throughout the storm. Unitil expects to have a global estimated time of restoration (ETR) later this morning.
“Crews worked tirelessly through the night, making significant progress in assessing damage and restoring power in the aftermath of these severe spring nor’easter,” Unitil External Affairs Director Alec O’Meara said. “Despite extensive damage to our electrical infrastructure, including broken poles and wires, fresh crews will be deployed at first light to continue the restoration effort until all customers are restored. We understand how challenging this type of multi-day outage can be for our customers and appreciate their patience.”
Unitil’s outage map at Unitil.com/map will be updated regularly with estimated restoration times for specific outages throughout the region as crews work though the area. Should new outages occur, the map will update in real time with estimated restoration times for these issues as well as they become available.
Customers are reminded that in the event of downed wires, they should assume all cables and wires that have fallen or dangling are energized and stay away. Be sure to avoid wet ground or puddles near a downed line because water conducts electricity. In addition, keep away from all flooded and debris laden areas because they may be hiding downed lines. Stay in a safe place and avoid driving in damaged areas so you don’t interfere with rescue and restoration efforts.
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 or report online at unitil.com/report-outage.
